English cricketer Ben Stokes recently got penalised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for misconduct and hence will not be a part of the Ashes squad. He apparently got embroiled in a fight with two people in Bristol and a video that was captured shows him punching two men in the middle of the street. Ben Stokes, who is also a star fixture in the English squad as an all-rounder, will now miss the coveted Ashes series. This is bound to be a big setback for England as he was considered an important player for the team. Ben Stokes had been in ominous form in the recent past and his loss would certainly peg back England leading up to the Ashes.
An ECB spokesman confirmed that the Board watched the video for the first time after a news outlet reported on the incident and made it clear that the Board will respect the police investigation.
“We have seen this footage for the first time tonight – when posted by The Sun,” the spokesman said. “There is an ongoing police investigation that will look at all available evidence, and we do have to respect that process.”
Meanwhile, the video shows men trying to stop an aggressive Stokes from punching as they can be heard shouting: “Enough, Stokes.”
Meanwhile, Andrew Strauss, England’s director of cricket, confirmed that Stokes had suffered a minor fracture in his finger.
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“All we can do at this moment is deal with what we know,” Strauss had said. “We have no idea how things are going to develop from a police perspective and it would be wrong for us to second-guess that in any way. We are judging our Ashes selection on that basis.”
It is still not confirmed if Stokes was under the influence of alcohol or what exactly triggered such an action from the English southpaw.
