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)
