Ben Stokes is likely to return as England captain for next week’s third Test at Trent Bridge, with the findings of the investigation into his curfew breach imminent.
Stokes and Gus Atkinson were interviewed by the Cricket Regulator this week and the outcome of an internal investigation by the team management is likely to be released before the end of the second Test at the Oval, for which the pair were dropped.
England insist no final decisions have been made about whether Stokes will play in Nottingham next Thursday, but there has been a clear softening of attitudes over the past week from an initially angry team management.
In their first press conferences after the nightclub incident, Neither Rob Key nor Brendon McCullum would commit to Stokes coming back as captain.
Joe Root is captaining at the Oval in Stokes’s absence, but if the regular captain plays next Thursday, it is expected that he will lead the team.
Stokes will turn out for Durham against Northamptonshire this Friday, and appears eager to get back into the Test fold. Just over a week ago, an emotional Stokes was mulling retirement from the game and, on Monday, head coach McCullum cast doubt over his mental wellbeing in a press conference at the Oval.
Lord Ian Botham has condemned Stokes for breaking his team’s curfew, saying: “I don’t see how you can justify what happened.”
Botham, speaking on an episode of the Stick to Cricket podcast that will be released next week, was critical of Stokes and the England team’s behaviour, accusing them of a lack of tact.
Botham’s links with Stokes run deeper than simply being England all-rounders. Botham was chairman of Durham, Stokes’s county, from 2017 to 2024, when he moved into the role of president of the club. Botham was also one of the former players who criticised England for their Ashes preparation last year; Stokes hit back, describing the critics as “has-beens”.
“They never learn do they?” said Botham. “It’s as simple as that.
“We as a club [Durham], when he had the problems in Bristol [in 2017], we stood by him, I stood by him, the whole team stood by him, I was chairman then. Everyone supported him then.
“I don’t see how you can justify what happened after the game [at Lord’s], especially when you were probably very much in charge of when the curfew is, midnight.”