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England captain Ben Stokes will return to guide the Test side next week after a disciplinary investigation concluded he was not involved within the altercation that saw two \u201cunprovoked attacks\u201d on team-mate Gus Atkinson.<\/strong><\/p>\n Stokes and Atkinson have received written conduct warnings, and England has recalled them to the squad for next Thursday\u2019s decider against Latest Zealand in Nottingham.<\/p>\n The news arrived just hours after Latest Zealand squared the Rothesay Series 1-1 with a crushing 253-run win on the Kia Oval.<\/p>\n Matt Henry tore through England\u2019s batting on the ultimate morning, taking six for 29 to seal victory for the visitors.<\/p>\n For exclusive stories and all of the detailed\u00a0cricket\u00a0news\u00a0you wish,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>subscribe to The Cricket Paper<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0website,<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0digital edition, or\u00a0newspaper<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0from as little as 14p a day<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n FOLLOW OUR LIVE SCORES CENTRE<\/em><\/p>\n The ECB stood the pair down from England duty after an incident at a Chelsea nightspot within the early hours of June 8.<\/p>\n An altercation took place with Saracens rugby union player Totoa Auvaa.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, an England and Wales Cricket Board probe concluded that Atkinson was the topic of two separate attacks and didn’t retaliate.<\/p>\n A member of England\u2019s security staff reportedly suffered an injury, but Stokes was not present throughout the physical scuffle.<\/p>\n The ECB has warned each players over their behaviour, which it says contravenes the terms of their employment.<\/p>\n Although, they each have avoided a effective and won’t miss any further cricket.<\/p>\n An independent Cricket Regulator conducted a parallel investigation.<\/p>\n It focused on the query of potential provocation and located that the England players had no case to reply.<\/p>\n A press release from the ECB read: \u201cStokes and Atkinson were found to have breached specific contractual obligations that require England players to in any respect times maintain the best standards of conduct and act in the perfect interests of England cricket.<\/p>\n \u201cAlong with not being considered for selection for the second Rothesay Test, they’ve each been given a written warning as to their conduct. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was also concluded that no blame must be attached to the players for violent conduct on the nightclub.<\/p>\n \u201cStokes was not involved within the altercation and didn’t witness either incident. <\/p>\n \u201cThe evidence the ECB has seen demonstrates that Atkinson was the victim of unprovoked attacks and didn’t retaliate on either occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n The developments end the formal a part of a chaotic episode that, at one stage, raised fears that Stokes might lose the captaincy and even announce his retirement.<\/p>\n But there are many thorny questions still to grapple with.<\/p>\n With England as a result of train in Nottingham on Tuesday, uncertainty lingers over the state of his relationship with head coach Brendon McCullum. <\/p>\n The duo were thick as thieves for the primary three years of their partnership but have needed to rebuff suggestions of a growing rift since an ill-fated Ashes tour over the winter.<\/p>\n McCullum said he was initially offended when hearing about Stokes and Atkinson\u2019s late-night escapades.<\/p>\n He later repeated his \u201cconcern\u201d and \u201cworry\u201d over the captain\u2019s wellbeing. <\/p>\n Those comments are understood to have been met with bafflement by the 35-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cBen shall be back and he\u2019ll be captain. Everyone\u2019s enthusiastic about that,\u201d McCullum said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been talking to Ben every single day because the incident. I\u2019m not going to disclose our conversations because they’re confidential. <\/p>\n \u201cBut I stay up for seeing him in a number of days.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s mutual respect there. I anticipate we\u2019ll give you the option to work together rather well and I\u2019m sure each of us still have the identical vision for this team.<\/p>\n \u201cOccasionally there are going to be mistakes made and you’ll be able to\u2019t walk past when standards have slipped or mistakes have been made. <\/p>\n \u201cYou address it and you are trying to maneuver on.\u201d<\/p>\n Rob Key, the ECB\u2019s managing director of men\u2019s cricket, said last week that Atkinson claimed he didn’t know a midnight curfew was in operation after the completion of a game. <\/p>\n In response, Key said the Team England Player Partnership \u2013 representing those with central contracts \u2013 had communicated the small print. He added that players widely knew them.<\/p>\n Asked for his view, McCullum said: \u201cLook, even when there’s ambiguity I feel we\u2019ve sat here and talked concerning the curfew. Talked about standards.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not only representing yourself. You\u2019re representing your loved ones, the fans, your country and also you\u2019re being paid to do it. <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have certain standards it’s good to adhere to. <\/p>\n \u201cWhilst there may not have been a tough blueprint potentially \u2013 I mean, like a tough factual [curfew] \u2013 everyone knew what was happening.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/em><\/strong> Ben Stokes moves closer to England return after withdrawal from Durham duty<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" England captain Ben Stokes will return to guide the Test side next week after a disciplinary investigation concluded he was not involved within the altercation that saw two \u201cunprovoked attacks\u201d on team-mate Gus Atkinson. Stokes and Atkinson have received written conduct warnings, and England has recalled them to the squad for next Thursday\u2019s decider against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":364750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20675],"tags":[14751,5911,3936,5370,5386,19363,33117,5385],"class_list":["post-364749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket","tag-attached","tag-ben","tag-blame","tag-captain","tag-england","tag-nightclub","tag-scuffle","tag-stokes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![\"Gus](\"https:\/\/www.thecricketpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Gus-Atkinson-Surrey-1-1024x576.jpg\")
PICTURE: Mike Egerton\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nWarned<\/h2>\n
![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.thecricketpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ben-Stokes-England-skipper-1024x576.jpg\")
PICTURE: Ben Whitley\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nChaotic episode<\/h2>\n
![\"Brendon](\"https:\/\/www.thecricketpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Brendon-McCullum-England-Ben-Stokes-1024x576.jpg\")
PICTURE: Ben Whitley\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nMove on<\/h2>\n
![\"England](\"https:\/\/www.thecricketpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rob-Key-Ashes-England-1024x576.jpg\")
PICTURE: Robbie Stephenson\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nDetails<\/h2>\n
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