Has he been playing in, and excelling in, County Cricket? If so, it may be justified. If not he has to fight for his place.
According to Sky Ben Stokes is likely to replace Sam Curran for the 3rd Test.
Not at all sure about the wisdom of this.
I like Ben Stokes, he’s a very fine cricketer. He’s also, imo, extremely fortunate not to be behind bars.
That having been said he was found ‘not guilty’ and has, imo, been punished enough via the loss of his endorsement contract and his Ashes place etc.
On the other hand both Sam Curran and Chris Woakes have come into the side and excelled. Woakes clearly cannot be dropped after his Edgbaston performance but I cannot recall a time when a twenty year old has made a bigger more promising impact on the England cricket squad.
Let Stokes win his place back by all means, but he has to take his chance when the opportunity arises imo and not at the expense of a young star in the making who has done absolutely nothing wrong. Thoughts?
Has he been playing in, and excelling in, County Cricket? If so, it may be justified. If not he has to fight for his place.
I agree with you there RA, any further punishment should wait until after a disciplinary hearing and not before.
Questions do need to be asked about the court case however. Like why 2 principal witnesses weren't called and the fact that video footage was widely shown on news programmes before the case was heard.
Last edited by ramAnag; 16-08-2018 at 09:54 AM.
the only logical thing to do is to replace Buttler with Stokes and have Stokes effectively playing as a batsman only since 5 seamers and a leggie would be over the top. If the wicket doesnt look spin friendly then maybe replace Rashid but that's a bit risky and the Indians showed the folly of a misshapen attack at Lords.
So the question is, does stokes deserve a place solely on the strength of his batting over Buttler (or arguably Pope, but that makes little sense). i'd say "no".
Hence I think he must be patient and wait to get back in. Not as a punishment, but simply due to the fact that on current form there are better players in the team
Last edited by Geoff Parkstone; 16-08-2018 at 11:19 AM.
Yes your right they did leave it to late and the Judge wasn't having it Yes. your right about a complanent but to layman surely seeing someone KO somebody else and get of Scot free doesn't seem right Infact the whole case doesn't seem right as you say why were not the gay couple called to give evidence after all they were the essential part of Stokes defence