LONDON (Reuters) - England cricketer Ben Stokes on Monday pleaded not guilty to charges of affray following an incident in Bristol last September and he will face trial on Aug. 6.
All-rounder Stokes, 26, was not present at Bristol Crown Court and denied the charges via video link from New Zealand where he is on duty with the England squad.
Two other men charged along with Stokes also pleaded not guilty to the same charges.
England’s second test against India at Lord’s starts on Aug. 9.
The Bristol incident and the legal process that followed kept Stokes out of England’s Ashes tour of Australia but he returned to the team last month for the one-day international series against New Zealand.
Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond