Ben Stokes will join up with his England team-mates at Trent Bridge this week and is free to play in Saturday’s third Test against India after the jury at Bristol crown court delivered a unanimous verdict of not guilty over his charge for affray.
Stokes was on Tuesday cleared of wrongdoing, along with co-defendant Ryan Ali, nearly 11 months on from the fight in the city centre last September, with the all-rounder’s solicitor, Paul Lunt, stating his client is now “keen to get back to cricket being his sole focus”.
However, the fallout from the incident has not concluded entirely, with the 27-year-old and his England one-day teammate, Alex Hales, who was present at the time but not criminally charged, still facing the possibility of a sporting sanction being handed down by the Cricket Discipline Commission.
Reacting to the acquittal of Stokes, a spokesperson for the England and Wales Cricket Board said: “Now that the legal proceedings have concluded, the disciplinary process for Ben Stokes and Alex Hales can be scheduled by the CDC.
“Ben Stokes will now join the England squad for the third Test against India, which starts at Trent Bridge on Saturday. Considerable detail has been heard in this week-long court case and, in due course, there will be a range of matters for the Board to fully consider.”
While funded by the ECB, the CDC deliberates at arm’s length from the governing body and is chaired by the former Derbyshire batsman and trained solicitor, Tim O’Gorman. The process is not expected to be completed for some time and thus Stokes is free to resume his place in the Test side after sitting out last week’s innings victory over Virat Kohli’s tourists at Lord’s – a result that has put England 2-0 up with three to play.
O’Gorman and his panel must now decide whether, despite Tuesday’s not guilty verdict, the events that took place near the Mbargo nightclub in the Clifton area of Bristol in the early hours of 25 September – a video of which was published by the Sun – constitute bringing the game into disrepute under the sport’s code of conduct.
Both Stokes and Hales were on England duty when the fight took place as they and other members of the squad celebrated a victory over West Indies in the third one-day international earlier that day. Thought not present at the incident, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Plunkett, Jimmy Anderson and Jake Ball were all fined for being out late.
Stokes was stripped of the Test vice-captaincy last year and sat out five Ashes Tests, seven one-day games and four Twenty20s in the winter, before returning in February once charged by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Those missed games could yet be factored into any cricketing sanction that follows, with Hales having also sat out the final two one-day internationals against West Indies at the back end of last summer.
Though a decision may not follow before the end of the international season – the fifth Test at the Oval is due to end on 11 September – both players could face missing some or all of the tours to Sri Lanka and the Caribbean either side of the new year. A lengthy ban could also jeopardise the chances of Stokes returning to the Indian Premier League next April, where he has a £1.4m deal with Rajasthan Royals.
The pair are also centrally contracted by England – Stokes for all formats and Hales as a limited overs player – and any decisions over the renewal of these deals, which expire at the end of September, will be made by the ECB board after the completion of the CDC’s process. That the board opted to clear the former for this Saturday’s third Test, despite the power to stand him down, suggests it is unlikely his contract will not be renewed.
Speaking to Sky Sports at a sponsors event shortly after Stokes was cleared of affray, Bairstow, the England wicketkeeper, said: “It’s big for him. It’s been a long 10 months for him and his family. Those kind of ordeals haven’t been taken lightly.
“ I’m delighted and hopefully we can see him back in an England shirt very soon because we saw the impact he can have at Edgbaston in the first Test.”
That impact by Stokes came in wrapping up a 31-run victory over India with three wickets – including the prized scalp of captain Virat Kohli – on the final morning; the question now is who the all-rounder replaces, given Chris Woakes deputised admirably at Lord’s as his maiden Test century and four victims with the ball earned him the man of the match award.
England now find themselves with a bloated 14-man squad for the third Test and no injury concerns, although Stokes will still have to prove his match sharpness to the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, and Joe Root, the captain, in the two days of training beforehand.
The fight in Bristol has cast a long shadow over English cricket during the intervening time, not least during the Ashes tour last winter as Root’s side crumbled to a tame 4-0 defeat to Australia while scrutiny of the team’s drinking culture increased.
Though Stokes was missing – the all-rounder played domestic cricket in New Zealand in the hope of a recall – a midnight curfew was put in place after Bairstow greeted opposition batsman, Cameron Bancroft, with a jocular “headbutt” in Perth’s Avenue bar on the first night in Australia. Ben Duckett, a Lions batsman, was also suspended later in the tour for pouring a drink over Anderson in the very same nightspot.
