Former captain Sir Andrew Strauss reckons the 2017 Bristol nightclub brawl incident involving Ben Stokes was just the kind of jolt the all-round cricketer needed at that stage of his career. 

Strauss further deemed the overall mishappening a "blessing in disguise" for leading to a cultural transformation in English cricket. 

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Stokes was banned for a significant period of time from representing England, a period in which he missed the all-important winter Ashes tour to Australia. 

But more than two years since, Strauss can see the positive effect of the incident on the 28-year-old, who realised the conduct and values he is expected to uphold while playing at the highest level and became more determined to perform. 

“That was a massive spanner on the works," Strauss, the current ECB Director of Cricket, told Sky Sports podcast. "It made us realise no matter what you do on the park, there can be some things that can happen off the pitch that can be far more damaging than anything that happens on the pitch."

"Us (England) losing a series is a bit of a step back but it’s not a big deal. But losing our best player for an extended period of time (is). Having to reshape our team and constantly back off questions about the England team’s culture and drinking and that sort of stuff was incredibly damaging."

"It was one of those moments where we have this other project going on. We had to look at the England team culture, in fact the dinner that we had for all past England players, helped making people realise how fortunate they were to play cricket for England and also the responsibility that came with that."

Stokes was integral to England's maiden 50-over World Cup victory last year, where he also helped the nation draw the home Test series against Australia with an impactful hundred at Headingley. 

“In retrospect, I think what happened with Ben Stokes was a blessing in disguise because it helped the players appreciate the culture bit," Strauss said. "They realised it’s not one of those things that the coach or the director wants us to do but it is something which either takes us close to winning or takes us away from it."

“So we had Joe Root and Eoin Morgan buying into it and the England plaers took it seriously and by the time the World Cup came there were these set of rules, well rules might not be the right word, it was about the way you were as an England player. That you were not just judged by your performance but also how you were as an England players."

“It was a brutally tough period for Ben Stokes. I think he was better for the experience by the way, but I think the whole England cricket culture was better for that experience."

(Inputs from HT)