Cricket Is The new Football

[kaiser78]

Ben Stokes

[BrilloPad]

Stepping in to stop homophobic abuse. Lets hope he gets a medal.

[kaiser78]

Fair point but not sure that was the best way to go about it...

[Hertsseasider]

There's not many other ways when the abuser is swinging a bottle.....

[Lance]

There's not many other ways when the abuser is swinging a bottle.....

if you've had a skinful it probably seems like a reasonable method at the time.
And if he was defending gays from dickheads then more power to him.
However..... There were more of them (Stokes, Hales and the gays) so they could have walked away. It looks like Stokes was ready for a rumble and that's not good.

That being said. It's Australia next, so reprimand him in March. The Ashes are too important.

[filthy1980]

if you've had a skinful it probably seems like a reasonable method at the time.
And if he was defending gays from dickheads then more power to him.
However..... There were more of them (Stokes, Hales and the gays) so they could have walked away. It looks like Stokes was ready for a rumble and that's not good.

That being said. It's Australia next, so reprimand him in March. The Ashes are too important.

Aussies batting is pants, easy 3-1 win for England with or without Stokes

[Lance]

Aussies batting is pants, easy 3-1 win for England with or without Stokes

I remember the predicted 5-0 ENG win last time down under. Then Mitchel Johnson found his mojo.
Mitchel Starc is gonna be handful.
What MUST happen though is the ECB make a final decision sooner rather than later. They said yesterday that cricket is the only factor in selection, yet today they've said something different.
The team don't need the distraction.

[TheFaQQer]

Aussies batting is pants, easy 3-1 win for England with or without Stokes

I'm not convinced that the Australian batting lineup against our bowling is going to be worse than Stoneman, Vince and Malan against their bowlers.

Vince averages 19 in tests, 35 this season (batting coach Paul Collingwood averages 50 this season). Ballance averages 19 from his last 12 tests (though he might do better if he wasn't played out of position). Mason Crane is inexperienced and I just can't see him making it into the side, even if Moeen Ali can't move at all.

16/1 on Australia to win the series 5-0 doesn't look too bad (that may have shortened somewhat now that Stokes in unavailable for selection until further notice)

[TheFaQQer]

What MUST happen though is the ECB make a final decision sooner rather than later. They said yesterday that cricket is the only factor in selection, yet today they've said something different.

Suspended until further notice - Ben Stokes and Alex Hales suspended by England after Bristol incident - BBC Sport

No replacement called up yet though.

[Lance]

Suspended until further notice - Ben Stokes and Alex Hales suspended by England after Bristol incident - BBC Sport

No replacement called up yet though.

yep. That doesn't say whether they're going or not.
I suspect they'll wait and see what happens with the police over the next few days.