ENG vs NZ: Ben Stokes returns to the team, forgetting the ‘nightclub’ controversy, ECB hands over captaincy for the third test

England Squad for 3rd Test against New Zealand: The third and decisive match of the Test series between England and New Zealand will be played in Nottingham from 25 June. Before this, England has announced its team for the third test match against New Zealand. Before the announcement of the squad, everyone’s eyes were on whether Ben Stokes would return to the team or not. Now, along with including Stokes in the team, ECB has once again handed over the responsibility of captaincy.

Stokes was dropped from the second Test after the victory in the first Test against New Zealand for breaking the night curfew and going to a nightclub and the controversy related to it. Along with him, fast bowler Gus Atkinson was also kept out of the team until the investigation was completed. But now both these players have been included in the team again.

Stokes and Atkinson return after ECB investigation

An investigation by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) found that Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson had violated some terms of the team contract. Both players have been issued written warnings for their behaviour. However, regarding the incident of fighting in the nightclub, the ECB made it clear that both the players cannot be held responsible for it. In the statement issued by the board regarding the nightclub dispute, it has been said that Stokes was not involved in that fight and he did not even see the incident.

At the same time, the investigation also revealed that Gus Atkinson was the victim of an unprovoked attack and he did not retaliate at any time. After the completion of the investigation process, both the players have now returned to the England Test team.

England’s squad for the third test against New Zealand

Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethel, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Jamie Smith and Josh Tongue.

The series is tied at 1-1

The first match of the three-match Test series being played between England and New Zealand was played at Lord’s, where the England team won by 115 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the series. But then New Zealand made a strong comeback in the second Test played at Kennington Oval and won by a huge margin of 253 runs and leveled the series at 1-1. In such a situation, the third Test match to be played in Nottingham has become very important and decisive for both the teams. The team that wins this match will also win the series.

Also read- Will Virat Kohli return to Test cricket? King Kohli himself replied, VIDEO goes viral

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