Cricket

Statement from Avon and Somerset Police

"We were called to a disorder in Queens Road, Clifton, at around 2.35am on Monday [25 September].

"A 27-year-old man was found to have suffered facial injuries and was taken to the Bristol Royal Infirmary for treatment.

"A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm and has since been released under investigation.

[EDIT - easier to read version]

Without all the evidence it sounds like someone's tried picking a fight with him and here we are now. Bit of a shame and embarrassing to be honest as I thought he'd got all of that out of his system.

At least we'll possibly see Roy and Curran play tomorrow

Left-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium

possibly a bit of bruising to a hand ?

High profile sportsman + nightclub + around 2.35am + booze + locals = shocking news !

never learn

His last, recorded, punch was the unforgiving metal of a dressingroom locker that broke his hand.
At least here he has allegedly punched the softer tissue of someone's face.
Generous view might be a tiny, little bit of learning.

So Stokes in the squad or out today do we reckon?

In surely (on the basis of innocent until proven guilty).

Plus it would fuck up the Stokes, Woakes and Foakes combo.

Ha! It's a bit like the match with Willy, Dilley & Lillee!

England squad: Joe Root (capt), Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, Dawid Malan, Gary Ballance, James Vince, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Foakes (wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Jake Ball, Mason Crane, Craig Overton.

Not the strongest Ashes squad I've ever seen...

BT will hopefully sort out why BT Sport can't be shown on my BT TV box in time for the first test (it's not the hardware at my end, my guess is it's the multicast equipment at the exchange or cabinet...)

Could get a strong team out of that. Squad depth is a worry though.

Ballance... hmmm...

^^ Ah, snap!

My bad:
' Stokes has a minor fracture in his right hand following the incident'

Not on a learning curve at all.

It's a pretty poor squad but fortunately the Aussies are pretty weak too so it should be a competitive series.

Ben Stokes on the Greene King IPA advert playing at change of ends just now. Nice touch!

Jos and Moeen giving no fucks whatsoever about Duckworth-Lewis. Bat fucking deep, gents.

Can't wait to see the Ben Stokes / Lethal Bizzle remix

Seen the footage. Self defence argument might be tricky.

If Stokes is charged and convicted, will he then have to play for Australia?

Steven Gerrard got away with it. So maybe Stokes will too?

Lethal Bizzle

Lethal Brizzle.

"The clip, which is just under a minute long, begins with one of the men who is eventually knocked to the floor appearing to attempt to strike somebody with a bottle."

Argue self defence (or defending someone else) and he'll be fine.

I've only seen a shorter version then.
Doesn't look great.
Guy he floors looks to be trying to break things up.

If he's charged and it goes to trial, it won't be dealt with by December and he'll be on bail so no guarantee he'll be allowed to travel.

Although I did once cover a case where a guy charged with manslaughter was given permission by a judge to go to Prague for his 21st.