England Drops Ben Stokes for 2nd Test, Hands Joe Root Captaincy After Nightclub Incident

3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jun 10

Joe Root will captain England in the second Test at The Oval after Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson were ruled out of selection during an ongoing ECB investigation.
Monday's incident followed a broken midnight curfew in London, where both players were present when a member of England's security staff was struck by Saracens player Totoa Auvaa.
Jofra Archer and Jordan Cox were added to the squad that beat New Zealand by 115 runs at Lord's, while vice-captain Harry Brook was passed over for the stand-in captaincy.
Root, 35, returns to a role he held for 64 Tests from 2017 to 2022, a temporary move that may preserve a route back for Stokes if the ECB does not remove him permanently.

Sources

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