Stokes acquitted of affray, added to squad

Bristol, August 14 

England cricketer Ben Stokes was found not guilty of affray by a jury in less than three hours of deliberations today following a trial at Bristol Crown Court. The 27-year-old, whose co-defendant Ryan Ali was also found not guilty, had been charged following a brawl hours after England played West Indies in a One-day international in Bristol in September last year.

At the start of the trial, the prosecution tried to amend the indictment and charge Stokes with two counts of assault but this was rejected by the judge. And half way through the trial, Stokes’s legal team attempted to have the case against him dropped but this was also refused by the judge.

Stokes said in his testimony last Friday he had a “significant memory blackout” but he was “absolutely not” an angry man who had lost all control. Stokes said he intervened because Ali and his friend Ryan Hale — who had been acquitted earlier in the trial — had directed alleged homophobic abuse at gay men William O’Connor and Kai Barry as they walked away from Mbargo nightclub.

Back in team

Stokes has been added to the England squad for the third Test starting on Saturday in Nottingham.  Owing to the court case, Stokes had missed the second Test at Lord’s, which England won by an innings and 159 runs. — PTI

Bumrah, Ashwin fit; Kohli in race to get fully fit for third Test 

London: The beleaguered Indian team today received a boost with pacer Jasprit Bumrah declared fit for the third Test. Bumrah had injured his left hand while playing the first game of the long UK tour against Ireland in Dublin in June. He didn’t feature in the T20Is or ODIs against England, and also missed the first two Tests. In other good news for India, both Ravichandran Ashwin and Hardik Pandya have also been declared fit. Both had suffered blows to their bowling hands while batting in the second innings at Lord’s. However, skipper Virat Kohli continues to be in a race against time to get completely fit for the third Test. — PTI