England: Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson incident offers ECB one other headache

Publicly, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has admitted the breach of protocols. In mentioning the “early hours of Monday morning” in an announcement, the governing physique left Stokes and Atkinson bang to rights.

It’s what occurred subsequent that will resolve Stokes’ future as captain, and probably as a world cricketer.

We all know there was an interplay with 21-year-old Saracens ahead Totoa Auvaa. England cricketers and Saracens gamers usually transfer in the identical circles, and a number of the Sarries squad had been current at Lord’s.

How the incident unfolded is unclear, however the end result was a member of the England safety staff was left bloodied and in want of medical consideration. He had not been ingesting.

If Stokes and Atkinson had been merely within the mistaken place on the mistaken time, it will likely be as much as the ECB to resolve how huge against the law that’s.

Given the context of the winter and Stokes’ place of authority, there will likely be a lot who imagine merely placing himself in that scenario is sufficient for a change of captain.

Stokes has historical past right here – a number of it, beginning with being despatched residence from an England Lions tour in 2013 for an excessive amount of boozing.

The incident outdoors a Bristol nightclub in 2017 virtually value him his England profession. Charged and finally cleared of affray, he defined he was performing to defend to members of the general public. He later revealed the ordeal had a long-lasting impact on his psychological well being.

Within the early a part of final yr Stokes stated he gave up alcohol to assist his restoration from a hamstring damage and invested in a non-alcoholic drinks model.

On Sunday, straight after the win towards New Zealand, he was wanting to get on the sauce.

“I will not be actually completely happy till I get to share a beer with the boys,” he stated within the post-match information convention.

Maybe Stokes is a microcosm of cricket’s advanced relationship with alcohol, proper right down to a leisure recreation that’s constructed on the tradition of pints within the clubhouse.

Andrew Flintoff’s ingesting session after England gained the 2005 Ashes is a part of this nation’s sporting folklore. Australia coach Andrew McDonald instructed Travis Head had as a lot enjoyable off the sector as he did on it through the previous Ashes in Australia.

Worldwide cricketers are sometimes younger males, away from residence for months on finish. The psychological toll touring life can take is properly documented.

Then once more, there are many methods to flee cricket with out visiting the pub. There are numerous cricketers who don’t drink in any respect, and plenty of extra skilled athletes from different sports activities who by no means contact a drop.

From a high-performance viewpoint, is a late-night ingesting session the right approach to be in the perfect form for the second Check at The Oval subsequent week?

Australia spinner Nathan Lyon lately revealed his perception that ingesting after profitable the World Check Championship in 2023 contributed to his calf damage within the second Ashes Check three weeks later.