2019 Cricket World Cup final, England v New Zealand
Continue reading
Tag: Ben Stokes (page 1 of 4)
2019 Cricket World Cup final, England v New Zealand
Continue reading
Ben Stokes was suspended from international cricket while the Crown Prosecution Service decided whether or not to press charges relating to the Bristol scuffle. Now that they have decided to charge him, he’s once again become eligible for selection.
We have no real opinion on whether or not Stokes should still be suspended, but we do find the way things have panned out slightly bizarre.
It’s almost as if the England management somewhat arbitrarily postponed making a decision until the next phase of the legal process and then took the one they wanted to take all along because they felt like it had been a while and things had maybe died down a bit.
If you’re indicted for war crimes, “But they started it!” is not a particularly weighty defence – even if it’s true.
It’s some way down the scale, but the same principle still holds true with Ben Stokes. Today’s confirmation that he was defending two gay men when he rained all those punches down on a pair of fellas in Bristol doesn’t really change anything.
Why it happened doesn’t change what happened. We (somehow) covered exactly this yesterday. It’s entirely possible to do wrong even when you start off in the right.
“Towards the end of the fight it all got a bit scary so we walked off,” said Kai Barry, who clearly didn’t need too much defending by that point. “It was too much for me and we went to Quigley’s takeaway for chicken burgers and cheesy chips.”
If only Stokes had done the same.
Kai knows that if you’re going to step in and fight for the forces of good in every conflict you come across, you’re in for a long night. “If you ever see fights, you let it pass. It’s just Bristol town. You see it every night you go out,” he said.
These latest revelations are so staggeringly unimportant in the grand scheme of things that we were at least hoping to end this article by bringing you a little bit of insight into the offerings from Quigley’s takeaway. Sadly, our Bristol correspondent didn’t manage to get back to us before our deadline, so we can’t even give you that.
The facts are these. Splice and dice them as you see fit.
- The ECB say that 26-year-old Ben Stokes was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning following “an incident” in Bristol
- Police say a 26-year-old man was arrested that night on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm
- Another fella went to hospital with facial injuries
- Stokes has injured his hand
- Stokes was released under investigation
- Alex Hales is helping police with their enquiries
Our reading of this is that England’s premier one-day opening batsman is pursuing a new career in law enforcement with Avon and Somerset Constabulary. There may also have been a thing with Ben Stokes, but it’s almost impossible to deduce what might have happened with that from these scant details.
But let’s imagine for a minute that Stokes was shit-faced and lamped a fella. You know, hypothetically speaking.
Like all England players Ben Stokes knows not to cross the line. That is something that is inculcated in all who wear the three lions – accurate location of and respect for the line. At the same time, he’s a passionate sort of human being and he wears his heart on his sleeve. You wouldn’t want him to lose that passion now, would you? Where would that leave him?
‘Not under investigation for causing actual bodily harm’ you might answer. Well, maybe, but he needs that edge, doesn’t he? Needs it. That’s what makes him great, right?
In the unlikely event that the above reading of events should prove to be correct, then based on this and previous “incidents” we have another conclusion to put forward.
It is this: Ben Stokes is a bit of a lightweight and entirely incapable of handling his drink.
Alastair Cook drop (via ECB)
So said Michael Vaughan after Cook had shelled an easy one early on. Where has he been looking? We’ve always felt like he drops a fair few – although maybe not by Vaughan’s own almost criminally low catching standards.
We wouldn’t go so far as to say that Cook’s a bad slip fielder. If we were called upon to deliver a one-word appraisal of his ability, we’d go with ‘serviceable’.
Maybe people have now seen him catch so many that they forget all the misses and assume he’s some sort of bucket-handed Flintoff figure. He’s not though – and it’s not just a feeling.
When Charles Davis counted up all the drops in Test cricket from 2000 to 2016, no non-wicketkeeper had dropped more than Cook. If plenty were perfectly forgiveable short leg snatches, the opener was nevertheless responsible for 62 non-catches in that time. Vaughan must have seen at least a couple of these. He was Cook’s captain in 18 Tests, after all.
Fortunately for Cook, England’s bowlers created a veritable barrage of opportunities on day one at Lord’s which allowed him to secure his 152nd and 153rd catches by the end of the day. (If you feel moved to compare that with the incomplete tally of Cook drops above, it’s worth knowing that around a quarter of chances are grassed in Test cricket.)
Ben Stokes, in particular, made even jaded old seen-it-alls leak oooohs, such was the swing he mustered. The misses were so near and so frequent that at one point even the umpire did a sharp intake of breath and a ‘how did that miss?’ face.
It was all rather glorious for England until the West Indies came out and did exactly the same thing only without dropping any.
Match reports
- What was it like to go and see Hampshire v Somerset in the 2019 Royal London One-Day Cup Final?
- What was it like to watch New Zealand v South Africa at the Basin Reserve? (a match report)
- A legitimate excuse for missing Warwickshire v Kent in County Championship Division Two last year (a match report)
Photographs on this site by Sarah Ansell
© 2019 King Cricket
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
Latest appeals