Ben Stokes should be carefully considered before deciding to bid for him: Simon Helmont

The mega-auctions for the upcoming season of IPL is slated to take place later this month. And ahead of that Simon Helmot, assistant coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad has issued a much-important warning for all franchises in the IPL. Helmot, who is also a former Big Bash League coach of Ben Stokes says he expects IPL clubs to seek as much information as possible before deciding whether to bid for him at auction next weekend.

The England star, who was impending charges for a bar brawl in Bristol last year, has now been charged with affray by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Police investigated the incident and sent their findings to the CPS in November. The 26-year-old and two men from Bristol are due to appear before magistrates at a future date.

Speaking to Fairfax Media from Bangladesh, where Helmont is the head coach at the country’s high-performance academy said, “I think in relation to IPL, teams and owners are always having to consider player availability. Over the last 10 years, teams have been really careful about who they select because they may have a person who needs to go off and play international cricket somewhere else.

He added, “I suppose, in this particular case, in Ben’s case, people are uncertain of what that all looks like so will probably want to gather as much information and knowledge to know what his availability is, and what the circumstances are.”

Board meet within 48 hours to decide on Stokes’ future

The 26-year-old has been named in England’s squad for a T20 tri-series next month featuring New Zealand and Australia. However, his involvement is still pending on the outcome of the investigation. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had already announced Stokes would be allowed to participate in the IPL, which begins on April 4. The Board has also issued a short statement to stating that it would meet within 48 hours to determine Stokes’ availability to represent England.

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