FEATURE: Ben Stokes and Alex Hales have undermined an increasingly likeable England cricket team

Updated 01/10/2017 at 12:38 GMT

Shaking heads and embarrassed smiles were the order of the day in the Ageas Bowl media centre on Friday afternoon. But while England’s cricket press found themselves with plenty of work to do, there was still an overwhelming sense of disappointment that the busy afternoon was once again down to matters off the pitch rather than on it. Eurosport’s Tom Bennett reports from Southampton.

Ben Stokes and Alex Hales

Image credit: Eurosport

Ben Stokes and Alex Hales have a lot to answer for.

The fall-out from the pair’s fracas in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Bristol has taken the shine off an otherwise strong summer of cricket for England.

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In Stokes’ case there are short-term concerns, of course, over how the police incident outside a student nightclub may impact his involvement in the Ashes.

And politically it is more than a little inconvenient for England to have a vice-captain who was arrested mid-series.

But the most disappointing aspect of this whole sorry affair is that, with one swinging right hand, Stokes has opened himself and Hales up to the sort of attention that can only damage the reputation of an England team who were rapidly growing into one the public could have been proud of.

Summer of success (on the pitch)

The Champions Trophy may not have delivered the title that had been promised, but the one-day team’s performances up until that semi-final against Pakistan saw them strengthen their position as one of the most exciting and dangerous in the game.

And in the test arena England also grew as a side this summer.

Joe Root’s foray into captaincy wasn’t entirely seamless, but the 26-year-old has added a new element to England’s game. His attacking mind-set makes it far more likely that watching fans will be treated to an exciting day’s cricket, while his decision to declare at Headingley was commendably positive – albeit one that allowed West Indies the chance to win the test.

Shai Hope and Joe Root

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James Anderson’s feats (passing 500 test wickets and delivering the best ever summer of figures for an England bowler) were also an added fillip in a bloated summer.

However, England’s middle order are the real key to getting bodies through the turnstiles.

Stokes played a big role in that over the last five months. His batting just gets better and better, while his remarkable spell of swing bowling on the first day of the final test of the summer at Lord’s hinted that he’s capable of being far more than the fourth-choice pace bowler in the attack.

Moeen is the star England needed

But it is Moeen Ali who has truly become the embodiment of this England generation.

Ali is a polite yet engaging interviewee, whose humility off the field makes his displays on it all the more likeable. With the ball in hand he may not be Graeme Swann, but his off spin is far more valuable to England than his detractors would suggest.

And with the bat Moeen is a delight.

His flowing cover drives are among the most attractive in the sport, but he’s capable of brutal hitting too (best illustrated at Bristol and the Oval in September’s ODI series).

England batsman Moeen Ali hits out during day four of the 2nd Investec Test Match between England and West Indies at Headingley.

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Yet the quality that stands above all others is Moeen’s selflessness. If his team need someone to thrash it about for a few overs he’ll do so, often sacrificing his own wicket. If they need someone to drop an anchor and play for time he’s often done so too – despite his attacking tendencies. And if there’s nothing in the pitch it tends to be Moeen who is relied on to draw something out of it.

There’s little wonder his is the name that trends on Twitter more than any other in the England set-up.

And England needed Moeen.

Around the world there is an understandable resentment of the ‘arrogant’ English mentality: that slightly aloof, ‘I’m better than you’ vibe that a certain type of British citizen still can’t seem to shift.

It hasn’t helped that the England cricket team’s aggressive approach to the game has overstepped the mark more often than ideal in recent years.

But Moeen was helping to change that.

The Stokes-Hales saga undoes much of that good work.

-- by Tom Bennett at the fifth ODI in Southampton

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