Why Ben Must Not Be Given An Ashes Reprieve

Officials of the England and Wales Cricket Board have a history of bringing dead stories back to life. Remember Colin Graves, shortly after his appointment to the post of ECB chairman, opening the long-shut door that had separated Kevin Pietersen from the England team?

 

- Peter Hayter

So for Tom Harrison, their chief executive, and director of England Cricket Andrew Strauss to indicate this week that Ben Stokes may play in the Ashes after all neatly fits into an established pattern, in this case throwing an apparently resolved situation back into confusion and, in the process, potentially causing the players who are Down Under a distraction they could surely do without.

This time last week we were digesting the thoughts of coach Trevor Bayliss, who seemed to have put an end to all speculation over the availability of the England all-rounder, suspended by the Board until further notice, pending an ECB internal inquiry and an active police investigation following his arrest outside a Bristol nightclub on September 25. Simply put, Bayliss said he and they were planning without him.

Taken with the words spoken by skipper Joe Root on arrival, that his friend’s absence would, “give others opportunities to stand up, put their stamp on Test cricket and do something special”, those comments appeared to close the book on this sorry tale, at least until after the upcoming series against Australia, for which clarity much thanks.

But when the ‘c’ word appeared again on Sunday, this time from the mouth of Strauss, it did so in a somewhat different context.

“What we all want is clarity on what that situation is and how much cricket he will be missing for England. We’re keen to get into that and move this forward but we’re in the hands of the police.