The Durham all-rounder’s insistence that he was coming to the aid of two gay men who were subjected to homophobic abuse was accepted as the Jury foreman at Bristol Crown Court delivered the “not guilty” verdict after a week-long trial.
It ended an 11-month ordeal for Stokes, who insisted from day one that he was acting in self-defence in the early hours street brawl that left a man with a fractured eye socket.
While Stokes is now free to pursue his cricketing career – and could even be fast-tracked back into the England squad for the Third Test against India at Trent Bridge on Saturday – this is NOT the end of the story.
The ECB will now hand the case over the the Cricket Discipline Commission, the arms-length “independent” body which handles all disciplinary cases on behalf of the governing body.
Despite Stokes’ acquittal, ECB bosses believed that his behaviour, alongside that of Alex Hales after the ODI win over West Indies last September, was unacceptable.
It was only the ongoing legal process that prevented cricket chiefs from pressing ahead with their internal process, although Stokes missed the disastrous ashes series in Australia and Hales did not play in the final two ODI games last summer.
The CDC, headed by former Derbyshire batsman Tim O’Gorman, will decide what punishment Stokes and Alex Hales will face for their involvement in the incident.
But the outcome of the trial, one that has, without question, damaged the image of England cricket, means Stokes is unlikely to suffer a further ban despite ECB bosses clamping down on player behaviour in the wake of the affair.
The CDC could well rule that Stokes and Hales deserve bans for behaviour that brought the ECB into disrepute, but with the 27-year-old having missed five huge matches last winter, that suspension would probably be deemed to have been served already.
And the possibility that the ECB could consider tearing up Stokes’ Central Contract, worth around £1m per year, in the light of a conviction, has now gone away.
Even so, Stokes’ reputation has taken a hit.
The video footage, showing Stokes lashing out and knocking co-defendant Ryan Ali and his friend Ryan Hale to the ground, after he admitted to having consumed beer, vodka and “potentially a few Jagerbombs”, were, at best, an embarrassment.
After all, the ECB is desperate to promote itself as family-friendly, ahead of the looming launch of their new 100-ball competition aimed at kids and non-cricket fans.
The last thing Lord’s chiefs needed was to have their most high-profile England star described in court as a “acting like a football hooligan”.
Throughout the trial, Stokes sat nervously behind the perspex screen of the dock in the Number 1 court.
On day one, Stokes initially sat beside Ali, the man he was accused of attacking after the fire brigade employee brandished a beer bottle.
By the end of the day, there were two seats between them and in the final days of the trial, after co-accused Hale was acquitted by the jury at the direction of Judge Peter Blair, the gap had spread to four chairs.
Stokes would snatch the odd glance towards his wife, Claire, sat in the front row of the public gallery, less than ten yards from where he sat.
Normally he had his hands clasped on his lap in front of him, but there was a twitching right thumb and occasional anxious, uncomfortable scratches of his ear.
In his two days in the witness box, Stokes dealt comfortably with the full tosses sent his way by defending barrister Gordon Cole QC.
But when he resumed overnight, the cross-examination by Prosecutor Nicholas Corsellis saw Stokes having to fend off the legal bouncers, with the odd false shot, especially when he suggested he had been “talking to God” when involved in a verbal spat with a nightclub doorman.
Fortunately for Stokes, he was not punished for any loose shots, as the jury believed his recollections of the event.
England, too, will feel the benefit, with Stokes now able to concentrate his attentions back on the thing he does best.
And if Stokes can play a key role in double England glory in next summer’s World Cupo and the home Ashes series against Australia, the black marks hanging over his reputation this summer will soon be forgotten and replaced by the grateful thanks of the cricketing nation.
Source: Read Full Article