England cricketer Ben Stokes to miss fourth West Indies ODI after being arrested in Bristol

Ben Stokes and Alex Hales have been omitted from England's squad for the penultimate game of their five-match ODI series against West Indies on Wednesday (27 September) following an incident that occurred in Bristol earlier this week after the hosts' 124-run win at the Brightside Ground.

According to a statement released by the ECB just one day before England are due to announce their travelling party for the forthcoming Ashes campaign in Australia, Durham all-rounder Stokes was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning and held overnight before being released under investigation without charge. He will not rejoin his teammates at The Oval.

Nottinghamshire opener Hales is said to have been with his international teammate on Sunday night and did not take part in training earlier today, instead opting to voluntarily travel back to Bristol in order to help assist police with their enquiries.

"You will understand that we cannot offer further detail at this stage but will provide any updates when we can," the ECB added.

In a subsequent release, Avon and Somerset Police said: "We were called to a disorder in Queens Road, Clifton, at around 2.35am on Monday [25 September]. A 27-year-old man was found to have suffered facial injuries and was taken to the Bristol Royal Infirmary for treatment.

"A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm and has since been released under investigation. We'd appeal for anyone who was in the Clifton Triangle area in the early hours of Monday who saw any part of this incident, to call Investigations on 101 and give the call handler the reference number 5217218578."

Stokes, who currently serves as deputy to Test captain Joe Root, scored 73 runs in Bristol at the weekend as England took an unassailable 2-0 lead over West Indies and is considered as a shoo-in for the Ashes squad. One-day specialist Hales made 36 in the same match but has not played Test cricket for his country since winning an 11th cap against Pakistan in August 2016.

"The selectors have been instructed to select the Ashes squad based on form and fitness as they normally would," confirmed England director of cricket Andrew Strauss.

Speaking to Test Match Special, England ODI skipper Eoin Morgan revealed that Surrey's Jason Roy would now definitely be drafted in for tomorrow's ODI, with other selection decisions set to be made in the morning.

"It has been a little bit of a distraction, but there are always distractions both as captain and as players whether that's within the group or outside the group," he said. "One thing as a group that we are very strong at is sticking together as a side and working well as a team. Certainly in the past, the best thing that we've always been able to do is to focus on our cricket and I think this instance is no different.

"There is a little bit of a distraction outside the team and it has the potential to affect the game tomorrow. Not letting that happen is something we can strive to do."