Ben Stokes today faced claims he was "really very drunk" and "over-exaggerated" any homophobic abuse against two camp revellers in a bid to justify launching a barrage of punches in a street fight.

Yesterday Stokes told jurors he fought with two men after they lunged at two gay clubbers with a bottles. The 27-year-old said he was protecting himself and those around him by fighting with Ryan Hale, an Afghanistan veteran, and Ryan Ali, a fire brigade worker.

Stokes is accused along with Ali of affray following an incident outside a Bristol nightclub on September 25 last year. Hale was cleared yesterday at Bristol Crown Court.

In addition to "two or three pints" and five or six vodka and lemonades on the night before the fight, Stokes said for the first time that he may have drunk "jagerbombs" inside the Mbargo club in Bristol's Clifton Triangle. "It was a fun night," he told the court.

Prosecutor Nicholas Corsellis suggested to Stokes that the reason he was having problems remembering exactly what happened that night was because he was "actually really very drunk". Stokes replied: "No."