Auvaa, the 21-year-old Samoan who is 6ft 5in and 19st 10lb, is understood to have aimed a punch at Atkinson but missed and instead left James Shaw, the England security liaison, requiring stitches. The cricketers were not injured and the police were not involved.
It is understood the dispute began over confusion about a reserved VIP seating area and that Auvaa believed the table where he was sitting had been reserved for Ben Earl, his Saracens team-mate, when in fact it had been held in the name of Ben Stokes. When the Samoan was asked to leave by the England cricketers, the confusion escalated into a row and it led to an altercation outside the nightclub, where punches were thrown.
While Stokes’s involvement in the incident is said to be peripheral, there is no doubt that he broke the curfew alongside Atkinson.
Stokes is said to be bereft about his misjudgment, and on Tuesday was even considering his future as an international cricketer. He will meet his long-time agent Neil Fairbrother, the former England batsman, to discuss the matter on Wednesday, although fears he could retire from the game eased on Tuesday afternoon.
While sources say Stokes is struggling with what happened, he is not known for taking situations like this lying down.
ECB executives held an emergency meeting on Tuesday and are keen for Stokes not to rush into a decision. Officials do not expect him to retire, but are not ruling it out.