Ben Stokes has been omitted from England’s second Test squad against New Zealand with Joe Root taking over as interim captain.
Stokes, 35, and Surrey seamer Gus Atkinson will not feature, the England and Wales Cricket Board said, while the investigation into their breaking of team protocols in the early hours of Monday morning is ongoing.
Harry Brook is the Test team’s vice-captain, and leads England in white-ball cricket, but the ECB have announced Stokes’ predecessor Joe Root as stand-in for the match at The Oval from next Wednesday.
Sussex fast bowler Jofra Archer and uncapped Essex batsman Jordan Cox have effectively replaced the two overlooked players in the 15-man squad.
England won the first Test at Lord’s by 115 runs, but that was overshadowed when it was revealed that Stokes and Atkinson had failed to adhere to a midnight curfew.
The pair were then caught up in an incident at a Chelsea nightclub in which a Saracens academy player Totoa Auvaa is alleged to have struck a member of the England team’s security staff .
Joe Root has been named as interim England Test captain in the absence of Ben Stokes
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