Stokes is cleared and free to tour West Indies
English cricket finally drew a line last night under the ugly scenes at Bristol that have haunted the game for 15 months, when Ben stokes and Alex hales were controversially cleared to tour the Caribbean in the new year.
The long saga that started with two of England’s players becoming embroiled in a brawl outside a nightclub in the early hours, in the middle of a one-day series, ended with something of a cop-out from the Cricket Disciplinary Commission.
stokes, who was found not guilty of affray in the court case last summer that followed the incident, and hales were both suspended and fined by the independent three-man panel.
however, the commission, chaired by former Derbyshire batsman Tim O’gorman, backdated all their bans to allow stokes to feature in three Tests against West indies and hales in the one-day series that follows.
stokes was suspended for six games after pleading guilty to bringing the game into disrepute, for becoming involved in a fight with two men, and two more games for appearing to mock the disabled son of TV personality Katie Price in a video that emerged after the incident. he was also fined a total of £30,000.
‘i accept the decision of the panel,’ said stokes in a statement. ‘i have apologised to my team-mates, coaches and support staff for the consequences of my actions in Bristol. i have learned lessons that will stay with me for much longer.’
hales, who also pleaded guilty, was suspended for four white-ball matches for his role in the Bristol brawl — a video published by
The Sun appeared to show him kicking a man in the head.