The legend of English cricket, Sir Ian Botham feels all-rounder Ben stokes should be allowed to play in the upcoming Magellan Ashes starting this week.
Notably, Stokes was debarred from the Ashes squad pending a police investigation report. Stokes is facing the charges of causing bodily harm to two men after he got involved in a brawl outside a nightclub in the streets of Bristol in September and the man was rushed to the hospital.
However, as per recent speculations, Stokes will be cleared of all the accusations and the former all-rounder Botham believes it will be a fair judgment.
“I’ve seen the video footage, we’ve had the two guys come out and said he intervened when these guys were getting stuck into them verbally, and a guy takes a swing at you with a bottle a couple of times, I think you’re entitled to finish it off, aren’t you?,” Botham said while talking to SEN.
Stokes might miss the first two Test matches of the five-match series, and Botham feels Stokes wouldn’t be affected by the interruptions in his preparations.
“There is more to Ben Stokes than meets the eye, don’t worry about that. He’ll be absolutely spot on,” the 61-year-old Botham stated.
Botham further added Ashes wouldn’t be complete if Stokes weren’t on the receiving end after the recent Bristol saga.
“You come to Australia, you don’t come here and expect to get welcomed, and it starts when you get into a taxi, or you come through customs. You’re always going to get some jibe. That’s part and parcel of it. That’s the great thing about the Ashes; I wouldn’t swap it for the world,” Botham further mentioned.
One of best all-rounders of all time, Botham feels the touring England team shouldn’t be underestimated even without the likes of Ben Stokes.
“To be quite frank, any side would miss Ben Stokes. A player of his quality, he’s the hottest property in world cricket at the moment, he is a fantastic player. But having said that, England are aware of the situation and the process that is going on, and they are more than ready to go into battle on Thursday, and they’ve still got, I think, a very good team. They’ve got some excellent players. They’ve got the likes of Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, and then, of course, you’ve got [Jimmy] Anderson and [Stuart] Broad,” Botham further stated.
Reportedly, Stokes gave his final statement to police over the weekend, as the police as expected to reveal this whether he will be charged or not.
If Stokes gets charged it could be months before his case reaches any conclusion. The ECB can take some action only when the police have made their decision on the fate of Stokes.
Also Read: (Ashes 2017/18: Australia Suffer Huge Injury Scare Ahead of Series-Opener)
(Ashes 2017/18: Ben Stokes Has Let a Lot of People Down – David Warner)