- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Chandrashekar Bhat
Yorkshire Cricket Club chairman Lord Patel is understood to be the target when Ben Stokes said “f*** off” on the night of England’s World Cup victory in July 2019.
The baron, who was a member of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) at the time, had reportedly taken a hardline view of Stoke’s career-threatening street fight in Bristol in 2017.
Lord Patel had been particularly upset by the footage of the Bristol fight and wanted to come down hard on Stokes, The Telegraph reported. But the peer denied having taken such a stand on the player.
Stokes was acquitted in the case.
In Amazon’s documentary Phoenix from the Ashes, Stokes made no secret of his animosity with Lord Patel.
“If this person did not know how I felt towards them then, they did know the night of the World Cup final,” Stokes said.
“I was let down by a few people and a few of them wear a suit as well,” he said in the documentary seen by the ECB legal team before its premiere in London on Monday.
“It is still there and always will be.”
The England test captain had recently revealed he would take anxiety medication every day to help his battle with mental health issues.
Stokes, 31, stepped away from cricket last year to focus on his mental health after enduring a series of panic attacks.
His father died of brain cancer two years ago and Stokes opted out of his sport for six months as he struggled to come to terms with the loss.
He still finds it hard to cope with the hectic schedule of international cricket.
In July this year, the World Cup winner announced he would retire from one-day internationals due to the “unsustainable” demands of playing all three formats.
