CHIEF SPORTS WRITER

how much damage Stokes has done to the reputation and image of both himself and the game that put him on a pedestal in the first place.

The video footage that circulated, of Stokes’ behaviour is the sort we never want to witness from anyone, let alone someone with so much responsibility resting on his broad shoulders.

There is no escaping the fact this case raises more questions about the conduct of high-profile sports stars.

What will children – the future stars of the sport – make of all this?

What example is this to set, even though the jury accepted he was acting in self-defence?

Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the whole episode is that those with inside knowledge of cricket were not surprised it was Stokes at the centre of all the drama.

On the pitch Stokes performs like he thinks he’s invincible – and so he should. He is a wonderful cricketer, a once in a generation all-rounder.

But take him out of those whites and he’s a mere mortal like the rest of us, someone vulnerable to the pitfalls and dangers life can throw up.

Yet Stokes seems incapable of learning his lesson.

In 2013 he was sent home from an England Lions tour of Australia for illdiscipline. There was also the broken hand he suffered after punching a dressing room locker in Antigua along with infamous run-ins with rivals Misbah-ul-Haq and Marlon Samuels.

Now he has gone on to miss an entire Ashes series Down Under and lose the vice-captaincy as a result of brawling in the streets of Bristol midway through a one-day series against West Indies.

It also comes against a backdrop of him having had two children and claiming in 2015 that fatherhood was steering him down the right path.

He said then: “I’m probably the first one to have a drink in my hand at the end of a game, but there are other things. I’ve got two kids and that changes things.

“You want to be a good role model for them and that responsibility has helped with me being a more mature person.

Trouble

“You’re in the public eye and you can’t set a foot out of line without someone putting it all over the internet.”

During the trial Stokes denied he had anger issues and that CCTV footage might have captured him talking to God.

The problem is, Stokes appears to think he IS God.

And until those around him convince him otherwise then trouble might remain his biggest enemy of all.

The final word goes to Lunt.

“The past 11 months have served to highlight to Ben just how highly he values his position as an England representative, both in terms of the privilege that role entails and the responsibilities that accompany it,” he said.

“Now the trial is over, Ben is keen to get back to cricket being his sole focus.”

Let’s hope it is.