Ben Stokes Hailed As Hero For His Role In Brawl Outside Bristol Pub
Oct 28, 2017 at 3:21 PM
The brawl that has jeopardised Ben Stokes’ Ashes participation has taken a new twist which is set to sigh relief to the England all-rounder. The two gay men, who were present at the spot when Stokes inflicted bodily harms on other men, hailed the cricketer as ‘hero’ for saving them, homophobic thugs.
Stokes was arrested in the early hours of September 25 but was soon released while being under investigation. The case then took another turn when The Sun released a CCTV footage showing the England star landing punches after punches on a man outside the pub in Bristol. The video completely changed the course of an investigation as Stokes is now doubtful for the Ashes despite being initially named in the squad. He is still under police investigation, and the ECB too are conducting an internal investigation into the incident.
Not only that, but the ECB has also stated that the all-rounder will remain suspended from selection until further notice. However, in what can turn out to be a major break in the case, the two gay men- Billy O’Connell and Kai Barry- who claim to have witnessed the incident, have said that Stokes was not at fault during the fateful night.
“We were so grateful to Ben for stepping in to help. He was a real hero,” O’Connell told The Sun when asked about the incident. “Kai feared he could be attacked. If Ben hadn’t intervened, it could have been a lot worse for us.”
“I’m not a fighter, and we didn’t want a fight. We could’ve been in real trouble. Ben was a real gentleman,” he added.
Giving further details of the night, Barry said:
“We couldn’t believe it when we found out they were famous cricketers. I just thought Ben and Alex were quite hot, fit guys. I chat to everyone and they were quite fit so we partied with them for a bit. Ben bought us Jagerbombs. He knew we were gay but he didn’t make anything of it.”
Barry also revealed why Stokes got involved in the fight, saying: “I’m not a violent person. And that’s probably why Ben Stokes stood up for me,” before O’Connell said:“We tried to stop it but couldn’t do anything. Ben was amazing for standing up for us like that.”
The critical witness also hoped that Stokes goes on to play the Ashes.
“Ben is a really nice guy and I hope he can still play for England in the Ashes. It would be awful his career was ruined over this. He was just trying to help defend Kai,” O’Connell said.
Meanwhile, Joe Root & Co. have left for Australia on Saturday (October 28) without Stokes. However, the ace all-rounder can join the squad at a later stage during the series which will start from November 23 in Brisbane.
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