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England giving up on Ashes already after Stokes punch footage emerges

DAMNING footage of cricket star Ben Stokes flooring a man while throwing “15 punches in a minute” has been met with dismay.

4 min read
September 28, 2017 - 10:17AM
Vision emerges of fight involving English cricketer Ben Stokes

IT was around 11pm London time when the first look at the following morning’s newspaper front pages first dropped.

And the almost universal response to damning footage of English cricketer Ben Stokes flooring a man with a vicious right hand was: England has lost The Ashes before they even started.

Former Test stars Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen were among a host of big names predicting their country’s demise on the back of evidence which has surely left English cricket officials in a position where they must not only drop Stokes from their team but also strip him of the vice captaincy.

Vaughan initially defended Stokes in two now-deleted tweets.

“Seen the video of (Stokes). It’s not good. But I would like to know why the kid swings a bottle at the start!?” Vaughan said.

“The video is awful viewing. (Stokes) shouldn’t be in that position. But was he reacting & protecting 2 people from a random attack!”

English media icon Piers Morgan also weighed in.

Former Victorian wicketkeeper Darren Berry lamented seeing footage of Stokes throwing punches, saying it brought back “horrific memories” of ex-Australian star David Hookes’ death.

Berry was with Hookes when he died from a king-hit in January 2004.

Stokes was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm and released without charge on Monday, but remains under investigation.

England coach Trevor Bayliss has described the circumstances which led to Stokes’ arrest in Bristol early on Monday as “very unprofessional”.

A man said by The Sun newspaper to be Stokes is seen to throw punches at two men, in a video that was published on the newspaper’s website.

The England and Wales Cricket Board said: “We have seen this footage for the first time tonight — when posted by The Sun.

“There is an ongoing Police investigation, which will look at all available evidence, and we do have to respect that process.”

In the 61-second video clip published by The Sun, the man alleged to be Stokes, is seen to hit out and grapple with another man on the ground before seeming to throw a punch and fall to the pavement himself.

As the altercation continues, the man reported by the newspaper to be Stokes then throws another punch in the middle of the street and the person struck falls to the ground.

A man lies flat on his back. Picture via The Sun
A man lies flat on his back. Picture via The Sun

Speaking before the release of the footage, Vaughan said Stokes needed to realise he has a lot more responsibility on his shoulders as one of England’s key players.

“He’s got to be more streetwise because he’s not Ben Stokes of five or 10 years ago living in Cockermouth in the north-east (of England) when no one really knew who he was,” Vaughan told BBC 5 radio. “Now he’s a global cricketing superstar.

“He was out until 2.30 in the morning two days away from an international. He’s hit someone, he got arrested and he’s the England vice-captain — that for me is not streetwise at all.

“He has to look himself in the mirror.”

Another former England skipper Nasser Hussain also took Stokes to task before the full extent of his brawl was revealed.

“Ben Stokes has the world at his feet and is well on the way to becoming a very special — not to mention very well rewarded — cricketer,” Hussain wrote in a column for the Daily Mail.

“But he cannot keep flirting with the self-destruct button while getting himself into such damaging scrapes.

“It has reached the point where it could damage the career of a potentially great England cricketer

“He has to learn to walk away or not put himself into an environment where this can happen.

“Ben Stokes has to grow up. The bottom line is, for all the advice and support he will be receiving right now, it’s down to him. He just has far too much going for him to throw it all away.”

Not a good look. Picture via The Sun
Not a good look. Picture via The Sun

Bayliss said he had no plans to strip Stokes of the vice-captaincy following the firebrand’s latest indiscretion, but that too was before vision of the incident emerged.

“A few of the guys being out in the middle of a series was very unprofessional,” Bayliss told Sky Sports. “Ben is a leader within the group when it comes to cricket — there is no denying it.

“I’m sure there will be some investigations going forward but at the moment I’m quite happy for him to be vice-captain.”

England ODI and Twenty20 skipper Eoin Morgan admits his team still needs to address its policy on player behaviour off the field. “It’s never been an area of concern in the past,” he said.

“We’ve always policed it ourselves, (but) it’s something we’re going to look into towards the future — in light of what’s happened — because we need to look after each other as a team.

“It’s not a case of individuals going separate ways. We all normally stick together, so we’ll have to put something in place that doesn’t leave us in the position we are at the moment.”

Stokes was included in England’s 16-man squad for the five-Test series that starts in Brisbane on November 23, but the 26-year-old fractured a bone in his right hand amid the bar scrap.

If he’s unfit to start the series — if he makes it on the plane at all, that is — it would be a devastating blow for a side struggling to find the right balance with its batting line-up. David Malan and James Vince have struggled to cement a spot in the side and Mark Stoneman has only three Tests to his name.

Stokes’ absence — should it come to that — will only make the tourists’ assignment more difficult Down Under.

— with AAP

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/england-giving-up-on-ashes-already-after-stokes-punch-footage-emerges/news-story/6e548c6ccc818f12dace14d7ee1a27fe