England's Ben Stokes' Trial on Affray Charges to Start Tonight
Updated - 10 Jan 2019, 01:31 AM
England all-rounder Ben Stokes is due to go on trial later on Monday on the affray charges which caused him to miss the Ashes series.
As a result, Stokes will miss the second Test of the ongoing five-match Test series commencing from August 9 at Lord’s. Ben Stokes played a crucial role in the second innings of the Edgbaston game scalping four wickets to win the match for his side. He removed India skipper Virat Kohli, as India failed to recover from there to lose the game by 31 runs.
The 27-year-old all-rounder and two other men, Ryan Ali, 28, and Ryan Hale, 27, jointly charged with affray in Bristol on September 25 last year. The incident took place several hours after England had played a one-day international against the Windies in the city.
All deny the charge, which states their “conduct was such, as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for his personal safety”, contrary to section 3(1) and (7) of the Public Order Act 1986.
The trial before Judge Peter Blair QC is likely to last between five and seven days.
Meanwhile, Ben Stokes missed the whole of Ashes series during the matter was under investigation. He has since played in the Test series against New Zealand, Pakistan and last week starred, as England beat India in the first Test at Edgbaston.
England name squad for the second Test
Dawid Malan has made way for young Ollie Pop for the second Test against India. The 20-year-old Pope is a middle-order batsman for Surrey who has enjoyed a stellar start to the 2018 season. So far, he has 684 runs in Division One of the County Championship at an average of 85.5.
On the other hand, England all-rounder Chris Woakes made a return to the squad in place of Ben Stokes. Woakes in returning from an injury and will have to live upto Stokes’ expectation.
