London - The wife of England cricket star Ben Stokes has dismissed reports of a physical altercation between the couple after pictures emerged which appeared to show her husband grabbing her face during last week's Professional Cricketers' Association awards.

Clare Stokes defended her husband in a Twitter post which included a photo of her pushing the cricketer's face in apparent mockery of the images that surfaced from the awards night, held in London on Wednesday.

she said.

The New Zealand-born cricketer responded to his wife's tweet with a face blowing a kiss emoji.

The 28-year-old Durham man won the players' player of the year award at the ceremony.

The all-rounder played a starring role in England's maiden World Cup win in July, hitting an unbeaten 84 in the final. He repeated his heroics in the Ashes with a sensational 135 not out to win the third Test against Australia at Headingley.