Ben Stokes withdrawn from Durham County Championship match with immediate effect

England have pulled Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson out of their respective County Championship games ahead of the third Test against New Zealand.

The duo were dropped for the contest at The Oval in south London after breaking curfew, but they’ve been withdrawn and will play no further part in the matches with two days left.

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A Durham statement read: “Ben Stokes has been withdrawn from the remainder of Durham’s County Championship match against Northamptonshire at the request of the ECB.”

England players are meant to be home by 12am during Test series, but after the win at Lord’s over New Zealand, the pair stayed out beyond that.

They were around at the time of an incident involving an ECB security guard and a Saracens rugby player.

As a result, they were both dropped.

Both have been playing this week for Durham and Surrey, respectively.

For Durham, Stokes bowled 25 overs, conceded 80 runs and claimed one wicket with the ball.

And with the bat, he made 95, scoring 18 boundaries before falling agonisingly short of a century.

Atkinson claimed four wickets for just 61 runs and scored one with the bat for Surrey.

But ahead of the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge next week, Stokes and Atkinson have been pulled out with recalls looking imminent.

What happened?

Stokes and Atkinson played for England over the winter in The Ashes as the visitors were creamed 4-1 by an under strength Australian team.

The whole time Down Under was plagued by off-pitch incidents, with Harry Brook being punched by a bouncer in New Zealand during a white-ball tour in November.

And then during The Ashes itself, England went on a break to Noosa that was described by some as a ‘stag-do’.

This saw the ECB’s managing director Rob Key bring in a curfew.

But after England’s win against New Zealand in one of the shortest Test matches in history by number of overs, Stokes said he would be having a drink despite being off the booze for a year.

And in the end, they both broke curfew and have been punished for it, with both set to return.

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Root saves the day

Not for the first time, Joe Root stepped in to save England, but not just with the bat.

The Yorkshireman has filled in as captain at The Oval for the home side.

Though, England are on course for defeat as they look to chase down a world record 463 to win.

Root is still at the crease and has surpassed 14.000 Test runs, but the home side are five wickets down heading into the final day.

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Right call

England legend Steve Harmison believes that all of this stuff should be moved on from and Stokes should be brought back into the team.

Speaking on talkSPORT Cricket’s international commentary of the second Test, he said: “A lot of this, for me, is nonsense.

“Ben Stokes should be back next week.

“Yes, there is a lot of team protocol, and he should be sanctioned and reprimanded, but for him to miss a Test match for being out after 12 – I can’t get that.

“Ben Stokes played in a Test match that his team won, so surely, you can go out and celebrate.

“I really do hope that things start dying down because a lot of it has been blown out of all proportion.

“If we get him back playing again next week as England captain, and get back to winning ways, time can be a good healer.”