England Test captain Ben Stokes and his teammate Gus Atkinson are in trouble after a fight in a London nightclub. Stokes’ captaincy is in danger due to breaking the team’s curfew and it is looking difficult for him to play in the next Test.
England’s Test captain Ben Stokes is in hot water over an alleged fight that broke out in an expensive London nightclub early on Monday. Stokes and his teammate Gus Atkinson had gone to a pub on King’s Road, Chelsea, to celebrate their spectacular 115-run win against New Zealand in the first Test at Lord’s.
What should have been a night of celebration soon turned into a controversy that has now raised questions about Stokes’s future as Test captain. A security guard of ECB (England Cricket Board) was also injured in this fight. What happened was that a member of the Saracens Rugby Club tried to throw a punch at Atkinson, but it accidentally hit the security guard. The guard had to get stitches for this injury.
Although the ECB has said that Stokes and Atkinson did not start the fight, but breaking the curfew imposed by the board has cost the captain heavily. The board had implemented these rules after some previous indiscipline cases.
What happened in the nightclub?
After the allegations of this fight between the players and other people in the nightclub, some new things have now come to light, which are further complicating the matter for the England Test captain. Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson went to celebrate the team’s victory at the ‘White House’ pub in South West London before heading to the famous Chelsea nightclub ‘Rex Rooms’.
daily Mail According to a report, Stokes was drinking with the England rugby captain and other rugby players such as Ben Earl and Jamie George. Staff at the White House Pub said the England Test captain appeared ‘intoxicated’ and ordered several rounds of drinks, one of which cost up to £25 (about Rs 3,190).
Matters worsened when the group reached ‘Rex Rooms’, where an altercation broke out over seating in the VIP area. The argument escalated when Saracens rugby club player Totoa Avua allegedly tried to punch Atkinson. But the target was missed and the punch hit the ECB security guard, after which a huge uproar broke out there.
Scroll to load tweet…
The matter is under investigation and the ECB and the cricket regulator are conducting a full review of the breach of the code of conduct. This is not the first time that Ben Stokes has been involved in a nightclub controversy. In 2017, before becoming captain, Stokes was involved in a major brawl outside a Bristol nightclub, after which he was charged with assault. However, the all-rounder was found not guilty as he did so in defense of two men who were facing homophobic abuse. But this incident left a long stain on his early career.
Stokes and Atkinson may be out of the second test
With the investigation into the nightclub controversy ongoing, it is almost impossible for Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson to play in the second Test against New Zealand at The Oval. It is expected that the England cricket team will soon announce the new team for this match.
It is believed that vice-captain Harry Brook will take command of the team, because the team management wants to move beyond this controversy and focus on the remaining matches of the series. The nightclub incident has brought Ben Stokes’ Test captaincy into question, forcing both the player and the ECB to rethink his leadership after breaking the curfew.
There are reports that the ECB has given Stokes the option to step down from the Test captaincy himself, or he will be removed from the captaincy if he does not take full responsibility for breaking the curfew. Meanwhile, speculations about his retirement from international cricket have also increased, because it is being said that Ben Stokes was considering saying goodbye to international cricket completely. It remains to be seen what the outcome of this high-profile investigation will be, but the incident has cast a huge shadow over England’s Test summer.