retirement was not off the table<\/a>.<\/p>\nEngland’s Gus Atkinson and Ben Stokes.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
The ECB announced Monday they were looking into Stokes and Atkinson\u2019s involvement in a nightclub incident also involving Saracens rugby player Totoa Auvaa on Monday morning following England\u2019s 115-run win in the first Test at Lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n
It is the latest controversy concerning the England team after the tour of Australia where the side faced allegations of a drinking culture during a 4-1 Ashes series loss.<\/p>\n
A physical confrontation with Auvaa is understood to have led to a member of ECB security staff being struck after Stokes had enjoyed drinks with England rugby captain Maro Itoje earlier in the evening.<\/p>\n
In addition to the ECB probe, both Stokes and Atkinson remain subject to another investigation by the independent Cricket Regulator.<\/p>\n
But the temporary appointment of Root, England\u2019s captain for five years before Stokes took over in 2022, suggests there is a way back for the all-rounder despite reports he was ready to stand down as skipper or even quit international cricket completely.<\/p>\n
In 2017, Stokes was involved in an incident outside a nightclub in Bristol that led to him being charged with affray.<\/p>\n
He subsequently missed the Ashes tour of 2017\/18 before he was found not guilty of the charge following a trial at Bristol Crown Court in August 2018.<\/p>\n
Joe Root is back as captain for now.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Before Wednesday\u2019s announcement, former England captain Michael Vaughan said Stokes had sufficient cricket \u201ccredit in the bank\u201d to avoid being sacked as skipper.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, Ben Stokes broke a curfew. Yes he made a mistake,\u201d Vaughan wrote in the Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut is that a sacking offence as England\u2019s Test captain? I do not think so. <\/p>\n
\u201cStokes has a lot of credit in the bank for all he has done for England as captain and all-rounder,\u201d said Vaughan, who insisted senior ECB officials lacked the same credit.<\/p>\n
\u201cA short suspension would be fine, but this is not a big enough incident over which to lose the captaincy.\u201d <\/p>\n
Former England captain Nasser Hussain told the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast: \u201cBen Stokes has been there for England a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been there as a captain, he\u2019s been there as a player at their finest moments – 50 over World Cups, T20 World Cups.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been a warrior for England and he got it wrong this time – he got it horribly wrong. I don\u2019t think that is a sackable offence. Ben will be in a dark place at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just hope Ben doesn\u2019t think, \u2018I\u2019ve let so many people down that I\u2019m going to retire. I\u2019m going to make an emotional decision and retire\u2019, because I think that would be a really sad way (to end) for one of England\u2019s greats.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of England\u2019s greats should not go out like that. I think he deserves better. I do feel a bit sad if this was the last we saw of Ben Stokes – I really hope it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harry Brook was passed over for a captaincy promotion.Source: AP<\/p>\n
By appointing Root caretaker skipper and deciding against promoting vice-captain Harry Brook to the Test captaincy, team chiefs England avoided a potentially embarrassing situation.<\/p>\n
Brook, already the captain of England\u2019s white-ball teams, was fined and censured for late-night drinking and clashing with a nightclub bouncer before captaining England in a one-day international in Wellington in October \u2014 an incident that led to the midnight curfew.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Jofra Archer\u2019s expected return to the squad was confirmed Wednesday after the fast bowler missed the first of a three-Test series because of his Indian Premier League commitments.<\/p>\n
The express quick could now come into the side as Atkinson\u2019s replacement, while batsman Jordan Cox will compete with James Rew and Rehan Ahmed for Stokes\u2019s place in the side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England captain Ben Stokes and teammate Gus Atkinson have been dropped from the squad for next week\u2019s second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[6074,2620,64,63,689,352705,352709,269082,90940,740,85020,17343,45893,1208,33511,2057,9564,24161,13849,352708,188195,17066,193012,24095,17055,350614,673,1736,214561,352706,352707,232163,3583,677,32787,352710,113042,47911,85,352711,352712,141736,3586,25904,41283],"class_list":["post-728351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-africa","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-captaincy-promotion","tag-caretaker-skipper","tag-city-of-bristol","tag-city-of-nottingham","tag-cricket","tag-crisis-talks","tag-daily-telegraph","tag-eastern-africa-sub-saharan-africa","tag-england","tag-england-and-wales-cricket-board","tag-europe","tag-european-central-bank","tag-gus-atkinson","tag-indian-premier-league","tag-interim-captain","tag-james-rew","tag-joe-root","tag-jordan-cox","tag-maro-itoje","tag-michael-vaughan","tag-midnight-curfew","tag-new-south-wales","tag-new-zealand","tag-nightclub-bouncer","tag-nightclub-cameo-investigatedcricket","tag-nightclub-curfew-incident","tag-nightclub-incident","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-rugby-player","tag-sacking-offence","tag-security-staff","tag-series-loss","tag-sports","tag-team-chiefs","tag-team-curfew","tag-three-test-series","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wellington","tag-zimbabwe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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