England head coach Trevor Bayliss has called on Ben Stokes to make a public apology for his actions outside a Bristol nightclub last September.
On Monday, Stokes was found not guilty of affray at Bristol Crown Court after a week-long trial. Due to ongoing proceedings, the all-rounder missed England’s Ashes campaign down under and the innings victory over India at Lord’s last week.
The ECB must not go easy on Stokes, reckons Nasser Hussain
Do you agree with his comments here?https://t.co/b5319WqNLH
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) August 15, 2018
Stokes, who was drafted straight back into the Test squad for the third Test just hours after his trial, apologised to his England team-mates when he rejoined them for their tour to New Zealand in February, revealed Bayliss.
“That’ll be up to Ben and his management team, I suppose,” Bayliss said on Stokes issuing a public apology. “But certainly, when he came out to New Zealand after the Ashes tour that he missed, he certainly addressed the players in the changing room when he first arrived. So from our point of view, his contrition was evident for the boys in the team.
“Certainly since the Bristol incident there’s a lot of work been done on team culture with the two captains and that will be ongoing. We’ve had to make one or two changes – with curfews and that kind of thing – but there will be ongoing work on team culture and what it means to play for England.
”Since a couple of small indiscretions in Australia, I can sit here now and say the players have finally woken up and have learnt their lesson. Their behaviour and the way they go about their professional life off the field as well as on has been top-class since.”
England lead their Test series against India 2-0, with the third Test starting on Saturday at Trent Bridge.
