He Said He Had Given Up Alcohol. He Won The Lord's Test By 115 Runs. Then Ben Stokes Went To A Nightclub — And Everything Changed.

 

The timing could not have been worse. Or, depending on how you look at it, the timing was entirely predictable — because Ben Stokes has always lived his cricket life at the highest possible intensity, and intensity has a way of spilling over the edges when the pressure releases.

England had just beaten New Zealand by 115 runs in the first Test at Lord's. It was a dominant performance — the kind that Stokes's teams have become famous for under the Bazball era. He had led from the front, made key decisions in the field, and watched his bowlers dismantle a New Zealand batting lineup that had come to Lord's with genuine ambitions for the series. The celebrations that followed were, by all accounts, significant.

Then, sometime between 2:00 AM and 5:00 AM on Monday morning, an incident took place at a London nightclub. Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson were present. A group of Saracens rugby players were also involved. The precise details have not been fully disclosed. What has been disclosed is enough to have changed the entire conversation around English cricket overnight.

The ECB confirmed on Monday evening that both Stokes and Atkinson are under investigation for what it described as "a breach of team protocols." The incident has been referred to the independent Cricket Regulator. ESPNcricinfo understands that it is serious enough for Stokes to be considering his position as England Test captain. Neither player sustained injuries. The Metropolitan Police have not been called. But the investigation is ongoing — and the second Test against New Zealand at The Oval begins in less than a week.

For a man who said publicly last year that he had given up alcohol and was looking forward to a "proper beer with the boys" after a big win, the circumstances of Monday morning are complicated in ways that go beyond the disciplinary process.