Ben Stokes should miss the Ashes, and England are better off without him

For a moment, the events of this past week seemed to be nothing more than a bad dream. A ginger-haired young man stood at second slip for England as their match against West Indies at Southampton began – very athletic, too, and passionate about his cricket. But it was Jonny Bairstow, not Ben Stokes restored to the team, exonerated, and doing what he does best.

England did not cope well with Stokes’ absence from their final game of this five-match one-day series against West Indies and of this interminable season.

Vaughan: Stokes can still join Ashes tour

Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes Ben Stokes will be stripped of the vice-captaincy, but will still take his place on the upcoming Ashes tour to Australia.

Jack Riewoldt’s on-stage cameo with The Killers

Jack Riewoldt’s on-stage cameo with The …

Jack Riewoldt’s on-stage cameo with The Killers

His premiership medal swinging around his neck, Riewoldt’s off-field ability scored points all round after the Tigers’ grand final win on Saturday.

Pyke: Adelaide must learn from devastation

Pyke: Adelaide must learn from …

Pyke: Adelaide must learn from devastation

Crows coach Don Pyke believes his side will dust itself from today’s heartbreak and come back stronger.

Macklemore excited to perform Same Love at ‘pivotal moment’

Macklemore excited to perform Same Love …

Macklemore excited to perform Same Love at ‘pivotal moment’

US rapper Macklemore reveals what it means to perform the song that has invoked controversy around the same-sex marriage campaign in Australia.

Clarkson interrupts Hardwick’s press conference

Clarkson interrupts Hardwick’s press …

Clarkson interrupts Hardwick’s press conference

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick appreciated the Hawthorn mastermind Alastair Clarkson’s interruption for a celebratory drink afterwards.

‘He sounded like he’d had about 40 beers’

The Tigers win is only just starting to sink in for Dustin Martin after a quick chat with his father.

Tigers’ second quarter blitz

Richmond scored three goals in five minutes to storm ahead in the grand final.

Riewoldt produces grand final mark

Richmond full forward Jack Riewoldt rises above the pack to take spectacular mark.

Vaughan: Stokes can still join Ashes tour

Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes Ben Stokes will be stripped of the vice-captaincy, but will still take his place on the upcoming Ashes tour to Australia.

Stokes’ absence, however, is something with which England must now learn how to deal. Provided the man who appears to be Stokes in the released video is indeed he, he deserves to be suspended for at least three months, to miss the Ashes and England’s one-day series in Australia, whatever occurs in the legal process.

There is no precedent in the annals of England’s cricket team for what allegedly happened in the streets of Bristol early on Monday morning. But relevant parameters are supplied by other national sports, such as football and rugby, where current England players have been suspended for the damage they have done to other people and to the image of their sport.

If the legal process culminates in Stokes being charged and convicted of a criminal offence, the ECB should extend his ban to cover the whole English off-season. No tour of New Zealand, the land of his birth; no Indian Premier League, the source of his unrivalled income as an English cricketer.

It should be next northern hemisphere spring when Stokes starts to play again, after all the necessary counselling, and with a clean sheet. Such a ban would be simple justice, as the punishment that fits the crime.

It is a secondary consideration that England would be better off without him in Australia because of the disruption that his presence would cause. Stokes would be fired up all right, and ready to confront jeering crowds of tens of thousands, to the point where the majority of 100,000 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground would be roaring abuse in the Boxing Day Test.

Get the latest news and updates emailed straight to your inbox.

But his teammates, all of them less confrontational souls than he, would be dragged in.

If the man who appears to be Stokes in the released video is Stokes then he has to be stripped of the Test vice-captaincy, too. Anybody, however provoked, who keeps on fighting, and does not realise the time has come to back off, lacks the judgment to hold a position of such responsibility, although this should not bar him from holding future office after he has done his time and rehabilitation.

England have no more committed team man than Stokes. But nobody has let England’s cricket team down more than Stokes appears to have.

It is conceivable that had he put his mind to batting this winter, England could have scored enough runs to retain the Ashes: he was masterly four years ago when he scored his century in Perth, the only one of the series for England.

Without him, Alastair Cook and Joe Root – plus all-rounders and rookies – cannot do the job.

In the fifth one-day international against the West Indies, England won without Stokes easily enough. It may be a long time before we say that again.

Marlon Samuels batted so slowly that West Indies did not score enough to pressurise England and 289 was no great target.

Stokes began this season as the most valuable player in the IPL, for Rising Pune Supergiants. England ended it without their finest cricketer, who is no longer rising, no longer super, no longer a giant.

Telegraph, London

Article source: http://smh.com.au/nsw/northern-beaches-model-bree-keller-identified-as-third-sydney-crash-victim-20170912-gyg7uh.html