Article #55546

• Regulator’s initial report into nightclub affair due soon

• Stokes has made it clear that he wants to play on

The England and Wales Cricket Board is hopeful Ben Stokes will be able to make a quick return as England captain. Brendon McCullum, the head coach, and Rob Key, the team’s managing director, refused to say that they wanted Stokes back in the side in press conferences over the past week, but behind the scenes the mood is believed to be more optimistic.

The ECB is understood to be waiting for a report from the Cricket Regulator into Stokes’s actions in breaking the team curfew along with the fast bowler Gus Atkinson after England’s first Test win against New Zealand at Lord’s last week. The regulator’s preliminary report is due in the next few days and its contents will inform the ECB’s next steps.