Be Affrayed, Be Very Affrayed

CP wonders if Stokes can hang on

“Anyone for an affray?”

It’s not fun anymore.

Where England’s previous dramas brought a touch of gossip, drama, excitement and disbelief, now there is just disbelief. How, how, are England in this position again? Week one, match one of the summer. And the boys who couldn’t handle their booze, are back to not handling their booze.

For all of the mess, there is currently one fact and one unknown to take into consideration.

First, the fact. The protocol that was broken was that Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson were out past the midnight curfew.

The unknown is their respective roles - Stokes’s in particular. At the moment, nobody knows whether further punches were thrown after a Saracens rugby academy player took a swing at Atkinson, missed, and left the ECB security guard needing stitches.

If all Stokes has done is to intervene to prevent his teammate from getting beaten up, his offence is somewhat mitigated. If CCTV video turns up of Stokes throwing haymakers, his offence is magnified. Mind you, it was Stokes’ excuse after the Bristol ‘affray’ in 2017 that he was defending two men from homophobic attacks. There’s only so many times you can take on a defensive role in a pub brawl in and remain England captain. It’s probably not two.

Two trains of thought are nearing the station in the UK. One is that enough’s enough. This was England’s new curfew, and the captain has broken it. In the summer of everyone being on their best behaviour he’s broken his own rules and his position is now untenable.

The other is: really? We’re going to fire one of England’s greatest ever cricketers, or force him to retire, on the basis of being out past midnight after a Test win with the next match not for almost two weeks? Curfew or no curfew, everyone grow up.

That sentiment lasts as long as Stokes’ role in the situation remains as peacekeeper not punch thrower. And given the ECB’s insistence that neither Atkinson nor Stokes has done anything that trips into the world of illegality, it could be the one that wins out.

My view is that it is impossible to declare what punishment should be given to Stokes before knowing the extent of the crime. And yes, the fence is uncomfortable, but I don’t care about the curfew. I do care if the England captain was beating people up. So I’m not really sure what other position can be taken until the full facts are known. But I’m also genuinely intrigued by others’ opinions on this. People are angry in all directions.

On Monday, Stokes was offered the chance to resign as captain by the ECB. On Tuesday, he responded by hovering over the send button of a retirement post on social media. Stokes’ packing it all in was the clubhouse favourite for much of the day. Slowly, that prospect cooled, but it remains a possibility.

A quirk of the Ashes thrashing was that Stokes left the series with his authority, if not his reputation, enhanced. He had been the one to drop anchor with the bat, he had been the one issuing rallying calls, he had been the one fit as a fiddle and he had been the one who, when it all ended, announced that England needed to change their ways. They had become too predictable. Had that not been the case, he would already be gone.