Stokes, Hales available for England as bans deemed to have been served
Ben Stokes and Alex Hales remain eligible for England selection following the outcome of a disciplinary hearing into their roles in a fight outside a Bristol nightclub in 2017.
All-rounder Stokes, who was cleared of affray in August, was handed an eightmatch England ban by the Cricket Discipline Commission Disciplinary Panel but those games are deemed to have been served.
Hales, who did not face criminal charges, was given a six-match white-ball ban with two already served and four suspended.
Stokes, 27, was fined a total of £30,000, while Hales, 29, was fined £17,500, £10,000 of which is suspended.
After the verdicts were announced, Durham man Stokes apologised for the incident, accepting the verdict and said he had learned lessons from it, pleading guilty at the hearing.
“The criminal charges and, subsequently, the disciplinary charges have made it difficult to make public comment about the issues. I have already apologised to my team-mates, coaches and support staff for the consequences of my actions in Bristol,” he said in a statement.
“I regret the incident ever happened and I apologise to England supporters and to the public for bringing the game into disrepute.”
Stokes was arrested in the early hours of 25 September last year, midway through England’s one-day international series with the West Indies, and then charged with affray in January.
Hales was with Stokes at the time of the incident in Bristol, in which a 27-year-old man suffered a fractured eye socket. Both men were charged with two counts of bringing the game into disrepute.
As well as the nightclub incident, Stokes answered a charge in relation to an “inappropriate video” on social media, while Hales was charged in relation to “inappropriate images”.