Legendary batter Geoffrey Boycott has urged the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to suspend Test skipper Ben Stokes over a nightclub incident involving teammate Gus Atkinson. Stokes and Atkinson breached the team curfew after England’s win over New Zealand in the first Test last week, before becoming involved in an altercation with Saracens rugby player Totoa Auvaa that allegedly left an ECB security official injured. The incident has overshadowed England’s preparations for the second Test, with the squad announcement now delayed due to the ongoing investigation into the nightclub row.
While the ECB is likely to impose sanctions on the players, reports have also emerged suggesting that Stokes could consider retirement from international cricket after finding himself caught at the center of attention.
In his column for The Telegraph, Boycott demanded a suspension for Stokes to set a precedent, arguing that there cannot be one rule for the squad and another for the captain or star player.
“The England and Wales Cricket Board has to make an example of Ben Stokes and slap him with a suspension after he was caught breaking the team’s curfew. You cannot have the captain blatantly breaking the rules and not do anything about it just because he is so important to the team,” wrote Boycott.
However, Boycott also urged patience from ECB officials, suggesting that Stokes’ ultimate fate should only be decided after a thorough inquiry.
“If Rob Key, the England director of cricket, or Richard Gould, the ECB chief executive, are not up to the task of disciplining Stokes then they should not be in a job. I said before that Brendon McCullum and Key should have been sacked. Come on Rob and Brendon, what are you going to do about this? Whether Stokes should be sacked depends on the full circumstances of the incident. An investigation is ongoing and it has to get to the bottom of what happened before making that judgment call,” he added.
Boycott insisted that, at the very least, a suspension must be handed down, playing down the effectiveness of financial penalties or simple fines.
“But that does not detract from the fact that Stokes as captain should be setting the tone. England cannot beat Australia next summer without discipline. And discipline applies off the field as well as on it. We don’t want a paltry fine. They earn so much money now that a few thousand quid means nothing to them. It is a suspension we need to see,” explained Boycott.
