Ben Stokes trial today - as it happened: Cricketer says he was 'talking to God' in CCTV footage

All-rounder accused of punching two men during alleged brawl in Bristol

Ben Stokes arrest footage released by police

Ben Stokes has told his trial for punching two people in the street outside a nightclub that he was not shouting in anger at a bouncer moments before the alleged attack — and may in fact have been talking to God.

The 27-year-old England cricketer is accused of punching Ryan Hale, 27, and Ryan Ali, 28, during an alleged brawl in the Clifton Triangle area of Bristol on 25 September last year.

Stokes, an all-rounder who plays for Durham, is jointly accused of affray alongside Ali. Mr Hale was acquitted of the same charge by the jury of six men and six women on the direction of the judge on Thursday.

Giving evidence for a second day, Stokes insisted footage recorded on CCTV outside the Mbargo nightspot did not show him shouting and pointing angrily at bouncer Andrew Cunningham after the doorman had refused him entry, then refused to shake his hand.

"I don't think you can tell if I'm angry," Stokes insisted under cross-examination.

Who is who

• Ben Stokes - Cricketer accused of punching Ryan Hale and Ryan Ali
• Ryan Ali - Jointly accused of affray alongside Stokes
• Ryan Hale - Acquitted of affray
• Kai Barry and William O'Connor - Gay couple who Stokes insists he stepped in to protect
• James Anderson, Jake Ball and Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett and Jonny Bairstow - Teammates of Stokes
• Andrew Cunningham - Door supervisor at the Mbargo nightclub
• Mark Spure - Off-duty police community support officer who told court Stokes had been 'main aggressor'

When Nicholas Corsellis, prosecuting, asked what Stokes had in fact been looking at, he said: "I might just be looking at the night sky."

Mr Corsellis said: "Who were you speaking to when you were looking at the night sky?"

Stokes replied: "God?"

Mr Corsellis asked: "Mr Stokes, you are just in front of the jury, trying to cover up your actions. You know you were angry and this CCTV was you looking angry, isn't it?"

Stokes answered: "No."

He told the jury he would have had at least 10 drinks that night - a bottle of beer after the game, two or three pints back at the hotel with a meal and five or six vodka and lemonades while out in Bristol.

He said he "potentially had some Jaegerbombs" at the club, in addition to the beer and vodka.

The cricketer said he intervened because Ali and his friend, Ryan Hale, were directing homophobic abuse at two gay men, William O'Connor and Kai Barry, but he said he could not remember what the words were.

He told the court he had not mocked or been homophobic towards Mr Barry and Mr O'Connor and said he could not remember flicking his cigarette butt at them.

Stokes also denied making a comment about Mr Cunningham's gold teeth, and said he told him: "Come on mate, I've got s*** tattoos as well."

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The trial continues.

Key Points

• Stokes accused of 'hiding behind' failure to remember certain details
• Cricketer says he 'could have had a few Jaegerbombs'
• Prosecutors accuse him of 'lying to the jury'
• Stokes claims he was 'talking to God' in CCTV footage

[10 August 2018 11:35 · Samuel Osborne]

The footage recorded on the CCTV camera outside Mbargo was played to Stokes.

Mr Corsellis suggested to Stokes he had been angry, shouted and pointed at Mr Cunningham after the bouncer refused to shake his hand.

"I don't think you can tell if I'm angry," Stokes replied.

When the prosecutor asked what Stokes was looking at, he said: "I might just be looking at the night sky."

Mr Corsellis said: "Who were you speaking to when you were looking at the night sky?"

Stokes replied: "God?"

Mr Corsellis asked: "Mr Stokes, you are just in front of the jury, trying to cover up your actions. You know you were angry and this CCTV was you looking angry, isn't it?"

Stokes answered: "No."

[10 August 2018 12:26 · Samuel Osborne]

Nicholas Corsellis, prosecuting, asked Stokes to tell the jury of six men and six women what homophobic abuse he heard shouted at Mr Barry and Mr O'Connor.

"As I said, I can't recollect anything specific but I'm very clear that the words being used were of a homophobic nature," Stokes said.

Mr Corsellis asked: "On the day of your arrest you were saying it was homophobic abuse. You had your solicitor draft a letter where it was amplified to nasty homophobic abuse.

"It has been nine months since the incident. You have, I'm sure, thought of this constantly. Please can you help the jury of what you mean and what was said?"

Stokes replied: "I can't remember specific words, no."

Mr Corsellis asked: "Is the case that nasty homophobic abuse was not being cast towards Mr O'Connor and Mr Barry?"

Stokes said: "No, it definitely was."

[10 August 2018 12:40 · Samuel Osborne]

The prosecutor asked Stokes what he had said to Ali and Mr Hale prior to the confrontation and what they had said in reply.

Stokes insisted Ali told him to "Shut the f*** up or I'll bottle you" after he told him to stop verbally abusing Mr O'Connor and Mr Barry.

Mr Corsellis asked: "Was it the case that you decided in the state you were in you were going to seek confrontation with Mr Ali and Mr Hale because that's what you wanted to do?"

Stokes replied: "Absolutely not."

Mr Corsellis asked Stokes about the footage recorded by student Max Wilson, which showed part of the alleged fight in which Alex Hales can repeatedly be heard shouting "Stokes".

"Was he shouting at you because everybody wanted you to stop," Mr Corsellis asked.

Stokes said he did not hear Mr Hales calling his name or trying to hold him back from confronting Ali.

[10 August 2018 12:44 · Samuel Osborne]

"You were asked yesterday by Mr Cole was there any stage in the incident you were enraged?" Mr Corsellis asked.

Stokes replied: "Throughout this whole incident my whole focus was where Mr Ali was and where Mr Hale was, from the moment I was verbally threatened and my friend Alex was run at with a glass bottle."

Mr Corsellis asked: "Were you enraged?" Stokes replied: "No, at this time my sole focus was to protect myself."

Mr Corsellis asked: "However this incident started, when you saw Mr Ali had a bottle and that he was threatening to Alex Hales and hit Kai Barry on the shoulder, you decided to get involved and after you had been on the ground and he [Mr Ali] disarmed you thought, 'I am going to show you what violence is' and you thought, 'I am going to retaliate and I am going to punish you and hit you out of revenge'. Is that not the truth?"

Stokes replied: "Absolutely not."

Mr Corsellis asked: "Is it what we see on the footage - an angry man who has lost all control?"

Stokes replied: "Absolutely not."

[10 August 2018 12:52 · Samuel Osborne]

Stokes has now finished giving his evidence.

[10 August 2018 13:10 · Samuel Osborne]

The court is now taking a break for lunch and will return at 2pm.

[10 August 2018 14:22 · Samuel Osborne]

The trial has resumed.

[10 August 2018 14:59 · Samuel Osborne]

Ryan Ali, who is also accused of affray, has now taken the witness stand. 

Ali said he had been out with Ryan Hale to celebrate his friend's promotion at work.

Ali said he would have been drinking Jack Daniel's and Coke and during the course of the night he would have drank six or seven before leaving Mbargo.

He told jurors his memory of the evening was "incomplete" because of the head injury he suffered when he was knocked out.

Ali described the "banter" between him and Mr Hale and the gay men, Mr O'Connor and Mr Barry, as they walked away from the nightclub.

"I remember at some stage walking down that street, someone saying 'We are going home with them tonight'," Ali said.

"Then someone else said 'No you're not' or words to that effect but they got quite irate when they said it.

"I recall we were in a group of four, having a laugh and having some banter and the next thing I remember is having a tall blonde man charging towards me."

[10 August 2018 15:03 · Samuel Osborne]

Ali continued: "The next thing that I recall is walking in the road with my palms open, walking backwards, saying 'I don't want no trouble' or words to that effect.

"I could see the same male that I saw charging towards me previously still charging towards me.

"I just didn't want any trouble so I was backing away, trying to retreat. At that point, I recall seeing Ryan to my righthand side, unconscious on the floor.

"I have a memory of calming down Mr Stokes. I recall trying to calm him down. I thought I did because he turned away from me. He then turned his attention away from me and turns to Ryan Hale who is unconscious on the floor.

"I saw that as an opportunity to try to restrain Mr Stokes from attacking my friend, who couldn't defend himself. As Mr Stokes's back was turned away from me, I saw that as an opportunity to get behind him.

"I used my right arm around his neck and my left arm to grab his left hand so I could pull him against me to try to restrain him."

[10 August 2018 15:09 · Samuel Osborne]

Anna Midgley, representing Ali, asked him why - as captured on the CCTV - he moves towards Mr Hales with the bottle and then takes a swing at Mr Barry.

"I believe it would be a difficult decision for me to take, to turn a bottle into an offensive weapon," Ali replied.

"I would have to perceive a significant threat to do that. I can hear myself saying 'Move away'."

Ali told the jury he is still under the care of a maxillofacial surgeon.

"I still get double vision when I look around," Ali told the court.

"I get floaters and my eye goes blurry quite a lot so I have to blink to re-focus."

Under-cross examination from Gordon Cole QC, representing Stokes, Ali denied Mr O'Connor and Mr Barry were "being a bit of a nuisance" as they walked away from Mbargo, and were getting "irate" with them.

"I wouldn't say they were. We were having a good laugh with them," Ali replied.