Updated January 16, 2018 01:47:36

Photo: Ben Stokes was not selected for the Ashes after the incident. (Reuters: Jason Cairnduff)

Controversial England all-rounder Ben Stokes has been charged with affray following an incident in Bristol last September.

The 26-year-old Stokes, England's vice captain and one of their most important players, was suspended after he and teammate Alex Hales were arrested following a punch-up outside a Bristol nightclub and released under investigation.

Stokes has not played for England since the incident, missing out on the Ashes tour to Australia.

Stokes and two other men are due to appear before Bristol Magistrates' Court at a date to be fixed.

The Bristol street brawl was captured on camera and left a man hospitalised with facial injuries, just hours after Stokes played in England's ODI victory over the West Indies at the Bristol Cricket Ground.

The Sun newspaper later published footage of what it said was a brawl between Stokes and two other people, one clutching a bottle.

Photo: The punch victim served in Afghanistan before leaving the army in 2013. (The Sun)

Should Stokes definitively be ruled out of the tour, it would be a huge blow for England whose chances of defending the Ashes in Australia have already been called into question.

Australia beat England 4-0 in the Ashes.

Reuters

Topics: cricket, sport, law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, united-kingdom, england

First posted January 16, 2018 01:46:25