Firestarter Stokes has long walked a line between brilliant and bolshy | Ali Martin

Ben Stokes, acquitted of affray, will look to take his England career back to the heights of centuries and devastating bowling“The Hit Man. Don’t mess with Ben Stokes – he’s fast and furious”. So trumpeted the front page of the Times magazine on Saturday 23 September less than 48 hours before his early-hours arrest in Bristol city centre following a street brawl. The tonally prescient interview with the England cricketer honed in on his reputation for being short-fu