Ben Stokes named in England squad for third Test with India after being found not guilty of affray following Bristol street brawl
- Ben Stokes has been added to England squad for third Test with India
- Decision came shortly after he was acquitted of charges of affray at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday
- Selectors will now decide whether Stokes plays any part at Trent Bridge
- The star was accused of punching two men unconscious in nightclub brawl
- Stokes missed England’s innings victory over Lord’s over the weekend
Ben Stokes has been sensationally added to England’s squad for the third Test against India at Trent Bridge after walking away from Bristol Crown Court a free man after being found not guilty of affray.
The selectors have decided to rush Stokes into the squad for a game that starts on Saturday even though he will probably now face a charge of bringing the game into disrepute along with Alex Hales.
The pair were out late in Bristol on September 25 and got involved in the unsavoury incidents which led to Stokes and a co-defendant in Ryan Ali both being found not guilty at Bristol Crown Court.
Ben Stokes will be named in the England squad for the third Test with India after being acquitted by a jury of affray charges at Bristol Crown Court
England player Stokes outside court following the verdict, alongside his wife Clare Ratcliffe
Stokes’s lawyer Paul Lunt reads out a statement outside Bristol Crown Court after the verdict
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England cricketer Ben Stokes is found NOT GUILTY of affray…
Ben Stokes and Alex Hales to face ECB independent…
How Joe Root’s men went from crisis to world…
ECB keep door open for Ben Stokes to play in third Test…
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An independent disciplinary commission under the chairmanship of former Derbyshire batsman Tim O’Gorman will hear the case against Stokes and Hales but the ECB say it will take ‘weeks’ for them to gather evidence.
That means the ECB have felt compelled to add Stokes to the 13-man party named on Monday after the thumping victory at Lord’s that gave England a 2-0 lead in the five-Test series.
Now it will be down to coach Trevor Bayliss and captain Joe Root to decide how they can possibly fit Stokes into a winning side after his replacement in Chris Woakes scored a maiden Test hundred at Lord’s.
But it would be extraordinary if Stokes played so soon after a criminal case even if for legal reasons as much as anything else he has been parachuted in now.
It could be that he is left on the sidelines even though he has been added to the squad or the likeliest man to miss out would be Sam Curran.
Stokes with his wife Claire Ratcliffe as the statement was read out by his lawyer
England cricketer Ben Stokes’ police mugshot, left, and Ryan Ali, right, showing the injury he sustained to his left eye
Ryan Ali leaving Bristol Crown Court where he and England cricketer Ben Stokes have been found not guilty of affray
England squad
Joe Root (capt), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Ollie Pope, Jamie Porter, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes.
And that would be harsh on a 20-year-old who has taken to Test cricket like a duck to water and was man of the match in the first Test at Edgbaston.
An ECB spokesperson said: ‘Now that the legal proceedings have concluded, the disciplinary process for Ben Stokes and Alex Hales can be scheduled by the Cricket Discipline Commission [CDC].
‘Ben Stokes will now join the England squad for the third Specsavers 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.’
Stokes team-mate Jonny Bairstow welcomed the verdict when he said: ‘I’m really happy that the verdict has come out as it has for English cricket.
‘It’s been a long 10 months for him, for his family and those kind of ordeals are not taken lightly.
‘Hopefully we see him back in an England shirt very soon because we saw the impact he had at Edgbaston only a couple of weeks ago in the first Test match.’
Stokes had been charged with affray following a fight outside a Bristol nightclub on September 25 last year, hours after England had won a one-day international match in the city.
The England all-rounder punched Ryan Hale, 27, to the ground and then knocked out Ali, 28, during the fracas in the early hours of the morning in Bristol city centre.
Stokes was instrumental as England beat India by 31 runs in the first Test at Edgbaston
It remains to be seen whether Stokes will return immediately to the team at Trent Bridge
England vs India series
August 1-5 First Test, Edgbaston
England won by 31 runs
August 9-13 Second Test, Lord’s
England won by an innings and 159 runs
August 18-22 Third Test, Trent Bridge
August 30-September 2 Fourth Test, Ageas Bowl
September 7-11 Fifth Test, The Oval
Stokes’ wife Clare Ratcliffe, who accompanied her husband to court every day, cried as the verdicts were returned while the cricketer closed his eyes with relief and then looked up, and later shook hands with Mr Ali in the dock.
In a statement outside court read by a member of the star’s legal team, he said his ‘sole focus’ was now returning to the sport he loves.
Stokes said he was acting in self-defence, or in the defence of others, when he punched the two best friends hours after England played the West Indies.
The jury at Bristol Crown Court took under three hours to acquit Stokes and co-accused Ali of affray following a seven day trial.
At the start of the trial the Crown tried to amend the indictment and charge Stokes with two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm but this was rejected by the judge.
And half way through the trial Stokes’s legal team attempted to have the case against him dropped but this was also refused by the judge.
England team-mate Alex Hales, who was present outside the nightclub but never charged, will face the same disciplinary hearing.
-
England cricketer Ben Stokes is found NOT GUILTY of affray…
Ben Stokes and Alex Hales to face ECB independent…
How Joe Root’s men went from crisis to world…
ECB keep door open for Ben Stokes to play in third Test…
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