England's Ben Stokes and his mother Deborah have received an apology and been paid damages by The Sun newspaper for the reporting of a family tragedy.
The newspaper published an article in 2019 depicting alleged events that took place three years before Stokes was born, which he described at the time via Twitter as "heartless" and "totally out of order".
Stokes claimed the story contained "serious inaccuracies" and had "grave and lifelong consequences" for his mother, while the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) stated it was "disgusted and appalled" by the reporting.
On Sunday, The Sun published a short statement on its website, apologising to Stokes and his mother.
"On September 17 2019 we published a story titled, 'Tragedy that Haunts Stokes' Family' which described a tragic incident that had occurred to Deborah Stokes, the mother of Ben Stokes, in New Zealand in 1988," the statement read.
"The article caused great distress to the Stokes family, and especially to Deborah Stokes.
"We should not have published the article. We apologise to Deborah and Ben Stokes. We have agreed to pay them damages and their legal costs."
Deborah Stokes said, as per The Guardian: "The decision to publish this article was a decision to expose, and to profit from exposing, intensely private and painful matters within our family. The suffering caused to our family by the publication of this article is something we cannot forgive.
"Ben and I can take no pleasure in concluding this settlement with the Sun. We can only hope that our actions in holding the paper to account will leave a lasting mark, and one that will contribute to prevent other families from having to suffer the same pain as was inflicted on our family by this article."
The Sun's story came shortly after Stokes' Ashes heroics at Headingley, with the New Zealand-born all-rounder having also helped England win their maiden ODI World Cup in July of that year.
Buttler tempers Archer expectations despite crashing return in Pakistan triumph
Jofra Archer may not immediately return with the crashing impact he previously had on England, but Jos Buttler is looking forward to utilising the fast bowler after his lengthy injury lay-off.
Rapid pacer Archer capped his first England performance in over a year with two wickets as England secured a 23-run victory over Pakistan in their T20I at Edgbaston.
With the upcoming T20 World Cup on the horizon, England captain Buttler was delighted to have Archer back in the fold – but warned his workload must be managed.
"I thought he was brilliant; you can see the emotion, taking wickets again, is fantastic," said Buttler, who plundered 84 off just 54 deliveries in the first innings to set the tone.
"He's not just going to be the Jofra Archer of old straight away, but a really positive performance.
"It's absolutely trying to get overs into Jofra but looking after him as well. I thought the whole bowling group was brilliant."
Buttler's knock, which included eight fours and three sixes, marked the second-highest score by an England captain in a T20I, behind Eoin Morgan's 91 against New Zealand in 2019.
On his own performance, Buttler added: "You always want to be playing well. I feel like I'm hitting the ball well, which is great."
Pakistan appeared to be setting their chase of 184 up well as Babar Azam crafted a fine 32, along with Fakhar Zaman's quickfire 45 off just 21 balls.
Yet the Pakistan captain fell lbw to Moeen Ali, with Fakhar then holing out off Liam Livingstone to Harry Brook in the deep as the visitors unfurled in Birmingham.
"Mostly we are flexible and everyone knows their role," Babar said after the defeat. "Before the series, we decided to go with these roles, so we're clear.
"The way Fakhar dominated after the early wickets fell. I think if me and Fakhar had batted for four or five more overs, then we could have won."
Van der Dussen warns South Africa only have 'one more chance' before World Cup
A disappointed Rassie van der Dussen warned South Africa only have "one more chance" to prepare for the T20 World Cup after suffering series defeat to West Indies on Saturday.
Brandon King's side secured an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series after West Indies managed a 16-run victory in Kingston.
Quinton de Kock smashed a 17-ball 41 as South Africa blasted 81 from their first five overs, yet ultimately fell short when chasing a target of 208.
With the upcoming World Cup in the Windies and United States, South Africa captain Van der Dussen acknowledged his frustrations.
"We let them get too much again," he said after the convincing defeat. "The spinners bowled really well; [Nqabayomzi] Peter, on debut, [was] brilliant.
"Looking at the way [Romario] Shepherd bowled today, he was disciplined... It was really disappointing.
"We have one more chance, and looking to bounce back [on Sunday]."
Roston Chase crashed a remarkable 67 not out off just 38 deliveries to guide the Windies to an imposing total of 207-7 in the first innings.
"Waited for the opportunity... Accustomed playing this role in the Caribbean Premier League," Chase said of his performance.
"[Daren] Sammy spoke to me. The plan was to take it to 14 overs. Then we realised that the wicket was better than yesterday."
Gudakesh Motie then did the damage with the ball, removing Van der Dussen on 30, as well as Andile Phehlukwayo (three) and Wiaan Mulder (nine) for his impressive 3-22.
"It's an amazing feeling [to win the series]," captain King added. "Chase is very valuable. Very happy with his performance.
"They had a good start. Finished well for us. Play really good cricket – that's what we are focusing [on]."
Series secured: Chase, Motie star to lead West Indies to 16-run win over South Africa in second T20I at Sabina Park
Roston Chase and Gudakesh Motie played starring roles to lead the West Indies to a 16-run win over South Africa and an unassailable 2-0 series lead at Sabina Park in Kingston on Saturday.
The hosts, after winning the toss and batting first, made an imposing 207-7 from their 20 overs on a much-improved Sabina Park pitch.
Stand-in Captain Brandon King, who stood out with a top score of 79 in the first T20I, got the ball rolling quickly on Saturday with a 13-run third over off the bowling of Anrich Nortje, who South Africa brought in for this game in place of Gerald Coetzee.
Johnson Charles, playing his 50th T20I, once again failed to make any inroads with the bat as he was first to fall, caught in the deep off the bowling of Bjorn Fortuin for seven.
Kyle Mayers joined the skipper and the pair brought the score up to 51-1 at the end of the first powerplay with King 35* off 20 balls and looking set for another big one and Mayers on nine from seven balls.
Unfortunately for the hosts and the Sabina Park crowd, King’s knock didn’t last much longer as he became the first T20I wicket for debutant Nqaba Peter when he was caught at long on for 36 in the seventh over.
Peter got his second wicket not long after when Mayers, after hitting a six the ball before, became the third West Indies batsman to get out caught in the deep. He made a 16-ball 32 including two fours and three sixes. The score at the time of his wicket was 83-3 with one ball left in the ninth over.
At the halfway point, the hosts were 88-3 with Roston Chase and Andre Fletcher at the crease on 10 and three, respectively.
The pair then batted beautifully to put on a further 56 in short time before Fletcher fell for 29 to leave the West Indies 139-4 with five overs left.
Not long after, Chase brought up an excellent maiden T20I fifty with a flat six over mid-wicket off Lungi Ngidi in the 17th over. His milestone came off 30 balls.
The 19th over proved to be the most crucial for the West Indies as a trio of sixes from Romario Shepherd brought the score past the 200 mark before he fell off the last ball of that over for 26 off just 13 balls.
In the end, Chase finished 67* off just 38 balls including seven fours and two sixes.
Peter was the pick of the South African bowlers with 2-32 from his four overs while Ngidi and Andile Phehlukwayo took 2-41 and 2-51 from their respective four over spells.
The start from South Africa then had Sabina Park silent as openers Reeza Hendricks and Quinton De Kock absolutely hammered the West Indian bowling around the park on the way to an opening partnership of 81 in the first five overs.
The last ball of that fifth over proved to be the start of the West Indian fightback as De Kock took one risk too many and was bowled by Akeal Hosein for 41 off just 17 balls including four fours and as many sixes.
Three balls later, one became two for the Windies as Reeza Hendricks, who made 87 in the first game on Thursday, was dismissed by Chase for 34 to leave the tourists 83-2 at the halfway point of the sixth over.
Ryan Rickelton and Matthew Breetzke then added a further 30 before the latter went for an ill-advised second run and was run out thanks to a brilliant throw from the deep mid-wicket boundary by Shamar Joseph for 12 off the penultimate ball of the 10th over.
Rickelton was next to go, caught off the bowling of Romario Shepherd for 19 to leave the score at 124-4 off 12 overs.
Not long after, Andile Phehlukwayo fell to another brilliant piece of fielding from Joseph, this time a catch in the deep off the bowling of Gudakesh Motie for three to leave the South Africans reeling at 138-5 in the 15th over.
Any chance South Africa had of pulling off the chase was dashed when Gudakesh Motie dismissed both Rassie Van Der Dussen (30) and Wiaan Mulder (9) in the 17th over.
In the end, South Africa reached 191-7 from their 20 overs, 16 runs short of their target.
Motie ended with 3-22 from his four overs while Shepherd bowled a crucial spell with 1-21 from his four.
Chase, who was named man of the match, completed a fine all-round performance with 1-26 from his four overs.
Chase says the team has eyes on a series sweep.
“Obviously we’ve started the series well being 2-0 up but three is better than two. I just think it’s for us to look at some of the areas where we were weak today and plan to execute them better tomorrow and improve on the areas we did well in as well,” he said.
“The guys have been playing some good cricket, we just had a camp in Antigua and we’ve put in a lot of hard work so it’s just for us to come out and execute and mostly, enjoy the cricket. I think once you go out there to enjoy the cricket, it becomes a lot easier and takes a bit of pressure off of you so it’s just to go out there and have fun,” he added.
The third T20I is set for Sunday.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
