England captain Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson have been dropped for the second Test against New Zealand after breaching team protocols, with Joe Root taking over as skipper.
The ECB said the pair had "not been made available for selection" after breaching England's new midnight curfew, as they were present at a nightclub when an altercation took place with a Saracens rugby player in the early hours of Monday morning.
The squad announcement for the clash at The Kia Oval which begins on Wednesday 17 June, live on Your Site, comes with Stokes understood to be considering his future. But Your Site News understands that fears over the 35-year-old's England future have cooled.
Root was replaced by Stokes as England skipper in 2022 after a record 64 Tests in the role, but now makes a surprise return as what the ECB have described as "interim captain".
Harry Brook - who is listed as England's official Test vice-captain - was disciplined in the winter for an off-field incident involving a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand prior to the Ashes, so Root has instead been asked to lead the team in the interim.
An ECB statement said: "The England & Wales Cricket Board can confirm that, given the ongoing investigation, Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson have not been made available for selection for the Rothesay second Test against New Zealand, which starts at the Kia Oval on Wednesday 17 June. Yorkshire batter Joe Root will lead the team as Interim Captain."
The dropped duo have been replaced in the squad by bowler Jofra Archer following his return from IPL action, and batter Jordan Cox.
Archer provides an obvious replacement for Atkinson, while Essex batter Cox is among several players who could vie for Stokes' position.
All-rounder Rehan Ahmed, batter James Rew and bowlers Sonny Baker and Matthew Fisher are the other four members of the 15-player squad who did not feature in the first Test at Lord's, which England won by 115 runs.
Joe Root (Yorkshire) - Captain
Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire)
Jofra Archer (Sussex)
Sonny Baker (Hampshire)
Shoaib Bashir (Derbyshire)
Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire)
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
Jordan Cox (Essex)
Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
Matthew Fisher (Surrey)
Emilio Gay (Durham)
James Rew (Somerset)
Ollie Robinson (Sussex)
Jamie Smith (Surrey)
Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire)
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and independent Cricket Regulator that occurred when Stokes and Atkinson were celebrating Sunday's victory against New Zealand at Lord's.
Stokes and Atkinson, as well as another member of ECB staff, were at the nightclub when an altercation involving a Saracens rugby union player occurred in the early hours of Monday.
The Saracens player is understood to have thrown a punch at Atkinson but instead hit a security guard who was supervising the players. It is not clear if after that further punches were thrown.
The cricketers' presence at the London nightspot was in contravention of a midnight curfew imposed on the team, put in place in response to criticism of the side's professionalism and drinking habits.
There has been no police involvement, but the decision to omit Stokes and Atkinson from the second Test shows the career consequences have been significant.
Your Site News reporter James Cole:
"It does buy a bit of time. It allows the ECB and Ben Stokes to continue to talk and to figure out what is the best way forward.
"It's a really difficult situation for the ECB because the question is, has Ben Stokes' position become untenable? In isolation, drinking into the late night celebrating a win isn't a huge issue, but it's the fact that it's this curfew that he has broken.
"Should it cost him the England captaincy? A lot of cricket fans, pundits and former captains are divided on that. If the captain can't observe the rules, then how are the players going to observe the rules?
"The other argument is that he's a brilliant captain and is one of England's greatest players, so does the punishment fit the crime? A lot of opinion is divided on that.
"The danger for England if they do remove the captaincy from Stokes, not just that he is an excellent captain and by far the best man for the job in this team, he could then turn around and say 'I've had enough'.
"He took the Ashes defeat hard and he has had his run of injuries. If we were to do that, then that one late-night drinking incident has cost England one of their greatest-ever players.
"That is the dilemma that the ECB face at this time. This just buys them a bit of time to come up with a solution and talk to Ben Stokes about a way forward."
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