England all-rounder Ben Stokes arrested

England all-rounder Ben Stokes was arrested in the early hours of Monday (September 25) morning after his involvement in an incident in Bristol. He spent the night behind the bars but was released the following morning without any charge. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed that the cricketer was in police custody and that opener Alex Hales was helping the police with further enquiries.

Thus both Stokes and Hales will not be available for the 4th One-Day International match of the ongoing series against Windies to be played at The Oval. The 3rd ODI of the series was played at the Bristol Cricket Ground on September 24 and the said incident happened on the following morning which resulted in the English all-rounder’s arrest.

This is not the first time the 26-year-old has been arrested as he was picked up by the cops in 2012 during a night out, in 2013 while playing for the England Lions, he got drunk one night and was sent back home from the tour as a disciplinary response to his actions.

ECB statement

“Ben Stokes and Alex Hales will not be available for tomorrow’s One-Day International match against West Indies at The Oval. Stokes was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning, 25 September, following an incident in Bristol,” ECB’s team director Andrew Strauss said in a statement.

The duo was not available for the training session ahead of the match in London and Hales travelled back to Bristol to assist the cops with the investigation.

“He was held overnight and released under investigation – without charge – late on Monday and will not join the team in London. Hales, who was with Stokes on Sunday night, did not train this morning and has returned voluntarily to Bristol today to help Police with their enquiries,” he stated.

He denied divulging any details of the case as it was under investigation and mentioned that will share updates when they are available. “You will understand that we cannot offer further detail at this stage but will provide any updates when we can,” Strauss mentioned.