Ashley Giles offers support to Ben Stokes amidst media scrutiny
Managing Director of the England Cricket Team, Ashley Giles has offered his support to the team’s star all-rounder, Ben Stokes after several local media publications tried to disturb him by revealing some controversial details about his personal life. Giles said that he is concerned about the 28-year-old New Zealand-born player after the pictures of him having a physical altercation with his wife were released online.
The former English spinner stated:
“I was pretty sure as soon as I saw the story there was nothing in it but it was great to speak to both of them. They were obviously concerned. We can all say domestic violence is a really serious issue and we’re not making light of that at all but in this case it’s a very happy couple having some fun - a picture telling a thousand words but just the wrong ones.”
He further added that it is a part of his job to protect the cricketers from the negative stuff outside the cricket world. Giles concluded:
“How you do that I’m not sure, you can’t always watch them and their families 24 hours a day, but we’re certainly there for them. Player welfare and support is a big thing for us going forwards.”
Off-field controversies of Ben Stokes
2019 has been the year of Ben Stokes as the all-rounder had helped his nation win their first Cricket World Cup in July while his heroics also helped England draw the Ashes series versus Australia. Since then, it is his personal life that has made the pages of the newspapers, first with The Sun publishing a front-page story about a personal tragedy that had occurred over 30 years ago and more recently, with allegations of having a physical altercation with his wife.
The left-handed batsman, however, has labelled the story "totally irresponsible" and even his wife has denied the claims of domestic violence.
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