England director of cricket Rob Key found out about Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson’s ill-fated night out in London following the first Test against New Zealand through a phone call from Brendon McCullum. The sign-off from the coach was blunt: “Just get ready for this.”
Key’s anger had barely subsided by the time he addressed the assembled media at The Oval on Thursday morning. This is where next week’s second Test will take place.
Neither Stokes, England’s captain, or Atkinson will be playing after they broke the team’s midnight curfew introduced after a booze-fuelled winter in Australia and New Zealand. There were no reassurances from Key either that Stokes will be back anytime soon, or indeed at all such are the emotions at play here on all sides.
The England & Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) response to this has been telling. Their brief statement informing the world that the two players in question had broken team “protocols” and that they had been involved in an “incident” left much to the imagination.
Atkinson (left) and Stokes were out after the team’s new midnight curfew (Photo: Getty)Unlike Harry Brook’s altercation with a Wellington doorman last October hours before a one-day international, the ECB didn’t try and cover this up. But the lack of detail that might have alleviated this crisis was interesting.
What we know now about what happened in Chelsea’s Rex Rooms in the early hours of Monday morning is that Stokes was nowhere near the fracas that saw Saracens rugby player Totoa Auva’a throw a punch at Atkinson and instead strike England security guard James Shaw.
Neither England player was believed to have been the aggressor. But the curfew had been broken. That alone must have felt enough of a betrayal to Key, McCullum and the ECB.
When asked, Key was adamant that the players had clearly been told that the curfew was still in place even after the Test had finished, although he did say a “distraught” Atkinson “said he didn’t know.”
Key came across as a man who is not only angry but feeling incredibly let down by a captain who flouted the very protocols he helped introduce alongside him. “The first thing on Monday morning was a sinking feeling, and then disbelief, anger,” Key said. “I’m not sure I’m over all of that now, to be honest. There is so much work that Ben and myself have put in, so much time spent on the phone – I think the overriding thing was shock that it was Ben involved in this.”
He answered the myriad questions over this whole mess with the enthusiasm of someone in a hostage video. That anger, though, was never far from the surface.
“When you end up as part of a story for being out and it’s alcohol, that’s not what you expect from an England cricketer,” he said.
Joe Root will captain England next week four years on from resigning the role (Photo: Getty)As he sat in the Long Room at The Oval mere metres away from a row of kegs of beer, the irony was lost on nobody when he was asked whether England’s booze culture had got out of control.
“Actually have we been strict enough?” Key said as he floated the idea of a total booze ban. “Even when they win a game of cricket is it now a time when there’s just no alcohol at any time and at any stage? I need to think through these things because I don’t want to make a rash decision that creates a situation where they don’t feel they can do anything. But the players now have to show the public that they can be trusted. At this point it’s hard to say they can.”
Key cut a chastened figure as the questions got more brutal.
“Are England a national embarrassment?”
“What does it say about the set-up that Joe Root appears to be the only responsible adult?”
The answers to those queries were in the negative. But he did go out of his way to praise Root, the former captain who will lead the team on an interim basis next week at The Oval.
“Ultimately, when English cricket’s in a hole, Joe Root’s the man that we ask to dig us out of it,” Key said. “When I spoke to him about whether he would consider this, he didn’t hesitate.”
Stokes is understood to have been considering his international future this week (Photo: PA)So what about Stokes?
Key consistently answered he would need to wait and see what the ECB’s investigation concluded before any decisions could be made about the captain’s future. The questions came thick and fast.
Why did Ben do what he did? Has he lost the authority to captain England?
“Look, I don’t know,” came the reply.
Do you feel let down?
“I feel disappointed that I’m here talking about this.”
Can Ben captain England under McCullum again?
“I think the decision is about actually what’s best for the team and what’s best for Ben as well. That’s where we need the time because that’s a big decision.”
Will Ben be captain again?
“There are a lot of things to happen before then.”
Might there be a doubt over him being captain again?
“I think we just have to let this play out.”
Is Ben going to quit?
“I’m not going to speculate.”
Do you personally want Ben to carry on as captain?
“I haven’t got an answer for that at the moment. It’s still very raw.”
So you’re not going to sack him?
“I’m not saying that.”
But there was a softening when he was asked whether Stokes would ever play for England again.
“No decisions have been made,” said Key. “I don’t see why not.”
This may be a start. In terms of timelines, expect an update on the ECB investigation – and Stokes’ future – at the end of The Oval Test. What the results of that will be, though, remain unclear.
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