Michael Vaughan has backed Ben Stokes to maintain the England captaincy however has revealed issues concerning the all-rounder’s current behaviour.
With query marks lingering over the 35-year-old’s future, Stokes seems to be concerned in a stand-off with the England and Wales Cricket Board following his involvement in a nightclub incident which additionally concerned team-mate Gus Atkinson and Saracens rugby union participant Totoa Auvaa.
Options that Stokes was prepared to interrupt his silence on social media on Tuesday – presumably relinquishing his management position, and even stepping away from England obligation extra completely – got here to nothing. The ECB might want to title a squad for the second Take a look at quickly, with coaching attributable to start on the Kia Oval on Sunday, that means a call to face the pair down for that sport might come earlier than something extra everlasting.
The Ladies’s T20 World Cup begins at Edgbaston on Friday, with England internet hosting Sri Lanka, and there may be an eagerness at Lord’s to have some readability earlier than Nat Sciver-Brunt’s workforce take centre stage.
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Credit score
Vaughan, the Ashes-winning skipper who led his nation 51 occasions from 2003 to 2008, has stepped into the controversy to counsel the top of Stokes’ tenure is just not inevitable.
“Sure, Ben Stokes broke a curfew. Sure, he made a mistake. However is {that a} sacking offence as England’s Take a look at captain? I don’t suppose so,” he wrote in The Telegraph.
“Stokes has lots of credit score within the financial institution for all he has performed for England as captain and all-rounder. There isn’t a manner that these making the large choices on the England and Wales Cricket Board have the identical credit score within the financial institution.
“I don’t see how one can inform Stokes he’s not captain anymore only for going over the curfew by a few hours after a win. The ECB is hoping Stokes comes to a decision on its behalf. Nevertheless it must be courageous sufficient and powerful sufficient to do what it thinks is correct. If that’s to sack him then superb, however I don’t agree with that call on this concern.
“A brief suspension can be superb, however this isn’t a large enough incident over which to lose the captaincy.”
Whereas Vaughan believes there’s a manner again, he additionally shared worries over how Stokes has dealt with himself in current occasions, courting again to the winter’s ill-fated Ashes tour.
“He has not appeared proper for some time. Over the previous week, earlier than this incident blew up, I despatched a number of messages to folks across the England camp that I had issues about Stokes,” Vaughan wrote.
Confrontation
“In Australia, he was aggressive with folks a few occasions after interviews. I’ve heard that he has not been shaking the palms of well-respected folks within the sport. It was odd at Lord’s that he didn’t come all the way down to have his {photograph} taken with all the opposite England ex-captains as a part of the one hundred and fiftieth Lord’s Take a look at celebrations. He doesn’t appear to respect the previous or different folks doing their jobs.”
Stokes and Atkinson stay below investigation for a “breach of workforce protocols” after breaking a midnight curfew whereas celebrating their Take a look at victory over New Zealand at Lord’s final Sunday. The episode has additionally been referred to the unbiased Cricket Regulator.
A confrontation involving Auvaa, one among a number of Saracens gamers seen ingesting with members of the England workforce earlier within the night, is known to have resulted in a bodily confrontation that led to a member of ECB safety workers being struck. Saracens are additionally conducting a probe to ascertain the complete details of the incident.
READ MORE: Ben Stokes’ England captaincy under scrutiny after nightclub ‘incident’ triggers investigation
