NEW DELHI: England captain Ben Stokes found himself in a fiery exchange with a local journalist on Wednesday after being pressed about footage showing him riding an e-scooter without a helmet in Brisbane earlier this week.

The tense moment came during his pre-match press conference at the Gabba, where Stokes firmly refused to issue an apology despite repeated attempts by the reporter to extract one.

Stokes, along with three England teammates, had been spotted cruising through Brisbane on rented e-scooters minus the required helmets - an offence that carries a $166 fine under Queensland law. However, Queensland Police later clarified that the players would not face any penalty and were instead spoken to as part of an effort to "inform and educate them on compliance requirements".

The episode still sparked a wave of criticism across local media, with the Courier-Mail taking a jab at the touring side, running a bold front-page headline branding the players as "Pommy Idiots".

"There's been some criticism of yourself and some teammates not wearing helmets on e-scooters around Brisbane. Do you acknowledge that that was the wrong thing to do?," a direct question was fired at Stokes.

"Next time we're on a scooter, we will wear helmets," Stokes responded.

"Do you think an apology is owed to Queenslanders?," the reporter further asked.

Stokes did not change his answer: "Next time we're on a scooter, we'll wear helmets."

The reporter made one last attempt - "Are you not going to make any further comment about this, other than what you've just said?" - but before Stokes could respond, the ECB media manager intervened, shutting the exchange down with a firm, "No, we're going to move on."