Ben Stokes gave his final statement to police over the weekend as the investigations into his street fight incident draw to a close.

Stokes is expected to discover this week if he will be charged after he was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm during in an incident in Bristol on Sept 26.

Avon and Somerset police interviewed Stokes in Bristol over the weekend after more than six weeks compiling evidence and speaking to witnesses including Alex Hales and the two gay men who told detectives the England all-rounder saved them from being beaten up.

Only once the police have decided on their next course of action can the England & Wales Cricket Board’s own disciplinary process kick into action. If Stokes is charged it could be months before his case reaches conclusion meaning it could drag on well into next year.

It is unlikely he will be in Australia anytime soon and England are planning for life without him for the rest of the Test series.

Stokes faces an independent ECB disciplinary committee and a ban from Test cricket looks inevitable for getting drawn into a street fight in which he suffered a broken hand that would have put him out of the warm-up games in Australia. Other England players who were out that night in Bristol have already been fined by the ECB. But the board has been advised by their lawyers to put the case against Stokes on hold so as not to prejudice the criminal inquiry.