3 min readJun 11, 2026 05:54 PM IST
Ben Stokes’ career has been hit with yet another off-field incident, with the England Test captain being dropped from the squad for the second Test against New Zealand after the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said that he and Gus Atkinson were being investigated over an incident at a night club after the first match. The ECB said that Joe Root, who was Stokes’ predecessor as England’s Test captain, will be leading the team in the second Test, with the host leading the three-match series 1-0.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has said that amid all this, it should n0t be forgotten just how much Stokes has put his body on the line for the team, stating that he hopes the all-rounder does not call time on his career in these circumstances. “Ben Stokes has been there for England a lot,” Hussain told the Sky Sports Cricket podcast. “He’s been there as a captain, he’s been there as a player at their finest moments – 50 over World Cups, T20 World Cups.
“He’s been a warrior for England and he got it wrong this time – he got it horribly wrong. I don’t think that is a sackable offence. Ben will be in a dark place at the moment. I just hope Ben doesn’t think ‘I’ve let so many people down that I’m going to retire. I’m going to make an emotional decision and retire’, because I think that would be a really sad way [to end] for one of England’s greats,” he added.
Stokes played a leading role in England winning the World Cup for the first and thus far only time in 2019. He also played a similar role in England winning the 2022 T20 World Cup final. After becoming captain of the England Test team, Stokes and the rest of the side initially caught the attention of the world with the aggressive style of batting they deployed. However, the chinks in the armour started appearing soon and the fact that England weren’t even close to qualifying for the World Test Championship final last year, coupled with their inability to compete with Australia Down Under in the Ashes last year, has put Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum under pressure.
Their cause hasn’t been helped by the off-field incidents either. Before the current incident, England were accused of having a “drinking culture” in their dressing room, with their behaviour during a controversial mid-series break during a rather disastrous Ashes in Australia especially coming under scrutiny.
It later emerged that England’s limited-overs captain Harry Brook was involved in an incident in a nightclub during the tour of New Zealand that happened before the Ashes. The fact that the incident had happened on the night before the third match of a series that England had already lost 2-0 and went on to be swept clean 3-0 only added more fuel to the fire. Moreover, the news came out in the form of a leak more than a month later while England were struggling to compete with Australia in the Ashes and the ECB had quietly investigated the incident internally and reprimanded Brook.
