AP, Wellington :
England cricketer Ben Stokes will play for Canterbury province in New Zealand’s domestic one-day competition beginning Sunday, despite being barred from international play as he waits to learn whether he will be charged over his part in a nightclub assault in September.
Canterbury Cricket confirmed on Thursday that it had approved Stokes’ selection for the Canterbury team which will play Otago in a match at Rangiora, near Christchurch. His selection has also been approved by the England Cricket Board, New Zealand Cricket and the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association.
The decision to select the 26-year-old New Zealand-born allrounder coincides with news that police in England have passed details of their investigation into the Sept. 25 assault outside a Bristol nightclub to Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service.
The Avon and Somerset police said they had asked the prosecution service for “charging advice” after concluding their investigation into the assault in which a 27-year-old man suffered a fractured eye socket. The incident occurred while Stokes and England teammate Alex Hales were celebrating England’s win over the West Indies in a one-day international.
Stokes hasn’t played for England since. The England and Wales Cricket Board placed him under suspension but the ban applies only to England matches and it has raised no objection to Stokes playing in New Zealand and for the province in which he was born.
The board of Canterbury Cricket met on Wednesday night to discuss whether it would approve Stokes’ selection.
