England’s legendary batter Geoffrey Boycott wants England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to take a strict action against Test skipper Ben Stokes following his and teammate Gus Atkinson’s physical altercation in a nightclub following a win at Lord’s Test against New Zealand. Boycott wants ECB to 'make an example' of Stokes by handing him a suspension for breaking the midnight curfew which led to altercation with former Samoa A and Under-20 captain Totoa Auvaa who is 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weights 124 kg approximately.
"The England and Wales Cricket Board has to make an example of Ben Stokes and slap him with a suspension after he was caught breaking the team’s curfew. You cannot have the captain blatantly breaking the rules and not do anything about it just because he is so important to the team," Boycott, who has 22 Test centuries, wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
Discipline Stokes, unsure of sacking
As per reports, Stokes was set to lose captaincy. But, the all-rounder is mulling over retirement which may turn out to be a knee-jerk reaction from him. Boycott says that he had wanted head coach Brendon McCullum and director of cricket, Rob Key gone after the Ashes debacle. For now, he expects the veteran England all-rounder disciplined.
"If Rob Key, the England director of cricket, or Richard Gould, the ECB chief executive, are not up to the task of disciplining Stokes then they should not be in a job. I said before that Brendon McCullum and Key should have been sacked. Come on Rob and Brendon, what are you going to do about this? Whether Stokes should be sacked depends on the full circumstances of the incident. An investigation is ongoing and it has to get to the bottom of what happened before making that judgment call," the 85-year-old added.
Not a fine, suspension is a must for Boycott
Boycott will not be convinced with a fine of a few thousand quids. He feels that it would be just a slap on the wrist and it is his suspension that would set the tone, especially if England are to beat Australia in home Ashes next year.
"But that does not detract from the fact that Stokes as captain should be setting the tone. England cannot beat Australia next summer without discipline. And discipline applies off the field as well as on it. We don’t want a paltry fine. They earn so much money now that a few thousand quid means nothing to them. It is a suspension we need to see," he further added.
England Test squad yet to be announced
The second Test of the series against New Zealand starts on June 17 at Kennington Oval, London, on June 17. ECB is yet to announce the squad as they have referred Stokes-Atkinson’s case to Cricket Regulator. If Stokes were to receive a suspension, England will fill it hard to replace him with a genuine pace-bowling all-rounder.