Durham distances themselves from their star player Ben Stokes' fight night allegations

English County Club Durham have distanced themselves from the Ben Stokes’ fight night episode. They have recently said that they won’t be conducting an investigation into their all-rounder’s arrest. The England all-rounder is currently under police investigation after being arrested on September 25 in Bristol. The ECB has suspended Stokes, who is a central contract holder.

Apart from that English cricket director Andrew Strauss has handed over the case to the cricket discipline commission to conduct an internal disciplinary operation following inquires made by the police. However, the all-rounder has been named in the England squad to play the Ashes against rivals Australia later this year.

Durham’s statement

Durham said in a short statement on their website: “Following last week’s reported incidents involving Ben Stokes, Durham County Cricket Club would like to make it clear that the club does not condone discriminatory behaviour or prejudice of any nature.

“As Ben is centrally contracted to the ECB they, as well as the police, are conducting a thorough investigation and we will allow them to continue with their process. We will be making no further comment at this time.”

Stoke represented Durham in the County Championship only once as he had prior commitments with IPL franchise Rising Pune Supergiants. The star player was the costliest buy in this year’s IPL. Former Australian opener Chris Rogers, who was part of the Australia’s 2013 Ashes campaign, when David Warner had a scuffle with Joe Root, recently said that the incident can make or break the case for England.

“It’s going to be a factor, I just think it needs to be addressed,” the 40-year-old, Rogers told The Mirror. “You have to get it out in the open, deal with it and move on. Credit to Darren Lehmann, that’s what he did. One of the first bits of business he did was call Warner on it and say, ‘This is your last chance, you’ve got to start doing the right things. It almost galvanised us a bit (and) it could have that effect on England during The Ashes.