England’s flamboyant all-rounder Ben Stokes has been found not guilty of affray after a fight near a Bristol nightclub in September last year. He was accused of punching Ryan Hale, 27, to the ground and knocking out Ryan Ali, 28, during an alleged street fight outside a nightclub in Bristol in September last year.

It has been reported that Mr. Ali sustained a broken eye socket, fractured tooth, a cut to his eyebrow and some bruises to his face during the alleged brawl, while Mr. Hale suffered a superficial head wound.

Mr. Stokes was jointly alleged of assaulting along with Mr. Ali, who was also cleared of affray by the same jury on Tuesday. It was alleged Mr. Stokes was “enraged” after a doorman refused to allow him and teammate Alex Hales back into a nightclub hours after England had beaten the West Indies in a one-day international in Bristol.

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The court heard Stokes, who taunted two gay men by “mimicking this voices and mannerisms in a derogatory manner” before a fight broke out. However, the prosecutor Nicholas Corsellis alleged that the all-rounder was the “main aggressor” during the fight and said he hit the two men after “the red mist came down”.

But English cricketer denied the allegations the gay couple, saying he was defending them against homophobic abuse and claiming they thanked him for protecting them. The cricketer also said he acted under self-defense, claiming Mr. Ali held the neck of an upturned bottle in his hand and began “waving it around”.

On the other hand, Mr. Ali said he was defending himself and claimed Mr. Stokes was “very angry and looking for someone to pick on” on the night of the incident. Mr. Hale was behaved of the same charge by the jury of six men and six women on the direction of the judge on Thursday.