England Star Stokes Acquitted Of Affray

England cricketer Ben Stokes was found not guilty of affray in a unanimous decision by a jury in less than three hours of deliberations on Tuesday following a trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Bristol, United Kingdom, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Aug, 2018 ) :England cricketer Ben Stokes was found not guilty of affray in a unanimous decision by a jury in less than three hours of deliberations on Tuesday following a trial at Bristol Crown Court.

The 27-year-old whose co-defendant Ryan Ali was also found unanimously not guilty -- had been charged following a brawl hours after England played the West Indies in a one-day international in Bristol, southwest England, in September last year.

His wife, Clare, cried when the not guilty verdicts were returned while Stokes closed his eyes with relief and then looked up.

Stokes shook hands with Ali on leaving the dock at the end of the trial that lasted seven days.

Whilst Stokes -- whose travails are not over as he faces a disciplinary hearing by the England and Wales Cricket board (ECB) -- stayed inside a smiling Ali restricted himself to telling the BBC he was "relieved it was all over".

At the start of the trial the prosecution tried to amend the indictment and charge Stokes with two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm but this was rejected by the judge.

And half way through the trial Stokes's legal team attempted to have the case against him dropped but this was also refused by the judge.

The jury had also been warned twice by Peter Blair about press coverage and social media on the latter occasion instructing them to avoid looking at commentary of the case after Stokes's lawyer raised the issue.

One Twitter user created a poll asking whether Stokes should play cricket for England again if he was convicted but escaped a prison sentence.