Ben Stokes

[bigfluffylemon]

No doubt Stokes will be named in the squad pending the outcome of the police inquiry, but there is no way he can tour if he is charged with ABH. If it was purely self defence, that may be another matter, but we have to wait for the full facts to become known.

I've been very harsh in the past on other teams continuing to pick repeated troublemakers because they are X-factor cricketers (Akhtar and Symonds are two that spring to mind). Now I'm conflicted, but this has to be Stokes' last chance to pull his head in before he's booted out of the team for good. They dropped KP for far less.

It's a shame, because our already slim chances of being competitive in Australia will shrink to near-zero without him, but you can't have players like this in the dressing room, for the good of the team and the fans that follow the game.

What is it about allrounders? Beefy and Freddie had similar issues with the booze. Does becoming an effective fast-bowling allrounder require the sort of larger-than-life personality that continually gets you into trouble off the field? It does seem to be a mainly English and Australian phenomenon - I don't recall Imran, Kapil, Hadlee or Kallis having these sort of issues (but I may be a bit young for the former three).

[Alviro Patterson]

If Stokes got charged with ABH, would he able to get a visa into Australia?

[alfie]

If Stokes got charged with ABH, would he able to get a visa into Australia?

Well there was a time when a criminal conviction was a qualification for a trip to Australia ...

But we probably shouldn't get ahead of ourselves here. Stokes was released without charge - after a few hours in custody ; and investigations are ongoing . So his degree of culpability in this matter remains to be seen.

What we can say though is that he was fairly obviously drinking too much and too late when he is in the middle of his contractual duties as an England player. That alone should lose him the vice captains role.

Does seem to be an occupational hazard for England pace bowling all rounders.

[bigfluffylemon]

If Stokes got charged with ABH, would he able to get a visa into Australia?

Well there was a time when a criminal conviction was a qualification for a trip to Australia ...

A joke almost as old as the time that was the case. But still funny

[Arthur Crabtree]

Didn't Ricky Ponting have a conviction for assault? He was allowed into UK many times. He was suspended from the Aussie team, maybe no criminality though.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Which raises the issue of whether Gentle Ben should be at least suspended.

[mikesiva]

Ben Stokes' misdemeanours
Dec 2011
Stokes, aged 20, is arrested and cautioned for “obstructing a policeman” in a drink-related incident.

Feb 2013
Stokes and team-mate Matt Coles are sent home from an England Lions tour to Australia for late night drinking, ignoring a written warning they received earlier in the tour.

March 2014
Stokes fractures his right hand after punching a locker in frustration during an England tour of the West Indies. He misses the World Twenty20.

April 2015
Stokes’s verbal spat with West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels results in Samuels giving an ironic salute to Stokes during a Test match in St George’s.

Oct 2016
Stokes is fined and receives a demerit point on his disciplinary record after an exchange with Bangladesh batsman Sabbir Rahman.

Nov 2016
Stokes receives an official reprimand from the ICC after an exchange with India captain Virat Kohli during a Test match in Mohali.

Aug 2017
Stokes is reprimanded for using “obscene, offensive or insulting” language towards a referee during England’s Test match against the West Indies.

Sep 2017
Arrested by police on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm after an incident in Bristol which left a man with facial injuries.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2017 ... lex-hales/

[Arthur Crabtree]

Very high spirited.

[KipperJohn]

Which raises the issue of whether Gentle Ben should be at least suspended.

That would happen as a matter of course in most forms of employment - at least until the issues were clarified.

Leaving him out of the side (with Hales) merely assists with the latter.

[budgetmeansbudget]

Reading Mike's list of Stokes' misdemeanours I found myself saying so bloody what to most of it.

The latest incident was probably some tosser picking a fight with him, and probably deservedly got whacked.

[mikesiva]

I suppose the issue is, why as a sportsman, who's on a central contract, does he persist with drinking, when it seems to be a problem that doesn't mix well with his explosive temper....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/41408662

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has warned Ben Stokes he needs to change his lifestyle after the England all-rounder was arrested following an incident outside a Bristol nightclub in the early hours of Monday morning.

The 26-year-old was held overnight by police on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm.

Test Match Special pundit Vaughan, writing in his Daily Telegraph column, said England's Test vice-captain needs to find alternative ways of letting off steam and must become as "streetwise" off the pitch as he is on it.

"Ben Stokes can't say he was not warned," said Vaughan.

"I have been privy to private conversations about him recently and he has been given strong warnings about his lifestyle.

"People have said to him there is only one person who can ruin your career and that is you. Nobody else."

[budgetmeansbudget]

I've got an explosive temper, but drink actually mellows me.

You can't say categorically that you can't drink if you have a temper.

[sussexpob]

Didn't Ricky Ponting have a conviction for assault? He was allowed into UK many times. He was suspended from the Aussie team, maybe no criminality though.

I think so, my Aussie mate in my Bristol days referred to him as "Pi**ing Ponting", I think he did a Monty and urinated on someone in a nightclub once, or according to the guy he did.

[budgetmeansbudget]

Ponting blew a gasket when a Pratt ran him out in 2005!

[Arthur Crabtree]

Stokes has fractured his finger as well!