Ben Stokes - howzat?

[tikay]

I'm not sure what to make of Day 1 of the Ben Stokes thing.

The first day of the trial of Ben Stokes & 2 other lads charged with affray did not make good reading.

The pre-trial puff from the Stokes camp was that he was defending two gay lads who were being mocked by the other two co-defendants. This was confirmed in Court.

However, evidence was also given which stated Stokes originally mocked the two gay lads by mimicking their mannerisms. Then, when the other two lads increased the tempo, Stokes is said to have attacked them both, suggesting they had gone too far.

Hard to know what to believe so far, but it's all rather sordid.

I believe the charges include "affray".

A prison sentence - possibly suspended? - must be amongst the options if Stokes is found guilty.

Alex Hales seems - so far - to have emerged with some credit, as he tried to cool the situation.

Worth noting that we have yet to hear from Stokes defence team so the evidence so far is one-sided, & we are not yet in a position to judge.

Here's the BBC News report on Day 1;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-45082248

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

One mystery cleared up was the interview Sky Sports did with Ben Stokes immediately after England had beaten India at the weekend.

OK, it was a good victory, but Stokes seemed overly emotional, barely able to speak & seemingly near to tears.

With hindsight, perhaps the gravity of his situation was haunting him, sort of hero to zero thing.

The trial is expected to last until next week, so Stokes will be missing from the 2nd Test v India at Lords, which starts on Thursday.   

[tikay]

Here's a legal view of what "affray" might mean, & the consequences. (This was before the Trial).

http://www.keepcalmtalklaw.co.uk/affray-outside-off-stump-explaining-ben-stokes-charges-/

[tikay]

As expected, the comedians on Twitter had a field day;


Absolute scenes at Bristol Crown Court as Ian Botham turns up with Fishing Rod, Chicken and a bottle of Red



Day 1 of the Stokes trial and it’s claimed Stokes made fun of ‘camp doorman’. Not quite the angel standing up for gay rights that we thought eh?

[Tal]

17 years now, since we had the most famous sporting affray comviction.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/dec/15/football.martinwainwright

These are difficult trials for juries, with so many conflicting accounts and with alcohol often playing a role in not helping witnesses recall events accurately. The test for the jury is beyond all reasonable doubt.

Will be an interesting trial to follow for sure.

Whatever happens, this sort of thing can't be good for a player who should be making fortunes on the short format circuit.

[DropTheHammer]

Seems like Stokes was on a mission to provoke a fight with someone, anyone, that night. The testimony of the two gay lads will be interesting. From what I’ve read so far, I can’t see how he will be found not guilty (unless there are a couple of cricket fans on the jury who want to do him a favour).

[Woodsey]

100% will be found guilty based on going too far in the scrap, it’s the severity of the punishment that’s up for grabs.....

[Doobs]

You can copy someones mannerisms without mocking them.   Don't we all do this at times in conversation? Sure this is a thing.  There is a big gap between that and picking up a bottle and a street sign.  I am interested in the gay men's view of the incident.  He looks to have gone too far to me, but the bar to be found guily is high. 

Will be intersting for sure.

[tikay]

You can copy someones mannerisms without mocking them.   Don't we all do this at times in conversation? Sure this is a thing.  There is a big gap between that and picking up a bottle and a street sign.  I am interested in the gay men's view of the incident.  He looks to have gone too far to me, but the bar to be found guily is high. 

Will be intersting for sure.

Agree with that.

I think the Trial will turn based on what constitutes "self-defence", as things seemed to go from pop to bang pretty quickly.

As Tal noted, over-indulgence in alcohol can & often does lead to all sorts of unacceptable behaviour.   

[TightEnd]

Interestingly, pre-trial 16 potential jurors were asked if they had any interest in cricket or views on Stokes + or - that would affect their judgement

Not one professed to be a fan of the sport or to know who he was

[teddybloat]

i used to be a a cricket nut in the mid 90s but once everything went to sky i stopped following it

i follow most of the sports pages, but wouldnt recognise any of the england players if they were sat next to me in their kits. could name maybe 3 current players, stokes being one of them only due to him being in the papers for the wrong reasons

not surprised that a random sampling of 16 people had no clue who he was.

[tikay]

Interestingly, pre-trial 16 potential jurors were asked if they had any interest in cricket or views on Stokes + or - that would affect their judgement

Not one professed to be a fan of the sport or to know who he was

That's hard to believe, but here on blonde, where we have a knowledgeable collection of people interested in sport, there was a discussion about SPOTY nominee Jonathan Rae last year (Superbike World Champion '15, '16 & '17), & several members said they had never heard of him, which was equally hard to believe - but true, I guess.

So it is possible.

[teddybloat]

16 random people

average of 8 women so very unlikely to foloow cricket

average of 8 blokes. odds of 8 random men not following cricket?

i wouldnt  place it in the 'hard to believe' cat.

i'd wager that viewing figures for the ashes even  dont get near a million

[tikay]

16 random people

average of 8 women so very unlikely to foloow cricket

average of 8 blokes. odds of 8 random men not following cricket?

i wouldnt  place it in the 'hard to believe' cat.

i'd wager that viewing figures for the ashes even  dont get near a million

Don't disagree with the thrust of that, but the Ashes tests were middle of the night UK time, & only available on BT Sport. So you can probably divide 1 milly by 10 & then some.

[teddybloat]

some quick googling found that channel 4 averaged around 1 million, sky around half a million [about the same as a re run for columbo on ITV3], and yes BT 100k.