Ben Stokes has warned England’s players to be wary of an Australian media desperate to pounce on any indiscretion or hint of scandal, saying he and his team have already been the subject of some “unbelievable journalism” and that such treatment is “part of being in Australia … it’s not just stuff out on the field that can get you, it’s also the off-field stuff.”
The England captain’s disgruntlement with his side’s treatment in the press extends to recent criticism of their preparations, with Stokes hitting out at the “has beens” who have been leading the chorus of complaint and insisting that “we leave no stone unturned” and “have prepared incredibly well”.
Stokes’s arrival in Perth last week prompted the West Australian to launch an attack on the man they called “England’s cocky captain complainer” over a front-page photograph of the 34-year-old pushing his bags through the airport, while Joe Root was subjected to similar treatment on Monday.
“I was a bit gutted when they turned their attention to Rooty because I was waiting to see what the next headline about me was,” Stokes said. “But it’s expected. That’s part of being in Australia. It’s another one of those things we’re going to have to deal with, especially some of the guys out here for the first time. It’s letting them know it’s probably what it’s going to be like. It’s not just stuff out on the field that can get you, it’s also the off-field stuff. It’s how you take it. You [have to] take it in your stride and laugh it off.
“There’s maybe four or five of us who’ve been on a tour of Australia, so it’s up to us to explain to [the others] and let them know what to expect. From my personal experience, coming to Australia for the Ashes is a lot different to anything else we play in. There’s a lot more that goes on away from the cricket itself. It’s making everyone aware that’s the case but it’s nothing to be afraid of, don’t shy away from the opportunity in front of us. When you’re growing up you watch these kinds of series and hope and dream of being in a team that gets the opportunity to represent England out in Australia. Now we are here, and it’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Ben Stokes said England’s warmup match will be ‘balls to the wall for everyone, no easing into it’. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP
Stokes also responded to the string of former internationals from both countries, including the former England captains Sir Ian Botham, Sir Geoffrey Boycott and Michael Vaughan, who have voiced concerns about England’s schedule. They play a single warmup fixture, a three-day game against a side made up of squad members and players from the Lions, which starts at Lilac Hill on Thursday. When Boycott was part of the team that won the urn in 1970-71, by contrast, they played four matches against state sides over the month before the first Test got under way, with another three squeezed between Ashes encounters.
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“Cricket’s changed so much and preparation is nowhere near as simple as it used to be,” Stokes said. “You used to be able to come out on a tour a month-and-a-half, two months before the first game started. Now there’s so much cricket packed into the schedule it’s impossible to do it how it used to be done. But we’ve been preparing for this tour not over the last few weeks, we’ve put a lot of thought and process into this for a few years now. So I don’t know what else we’re expected to do.
“There’s quite a few factors that play into why we can’t prepare how the has-beens maybe prepared in the past. The landscape of cricket has changed. But we are very confident and very comfortable with how we prepare, because we leave no stone unturned. We have prepared incredibly well. All in different places and continents but everyone has been preparing for this series for a long time now so come the 21st [November] we will be good.”
Discussing the current fitness of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood – who along with the side’s other seamers skipped training on Wednesday to conserve their energy for a warmup game their captain predicted would be “balls to the wall for everyone, no easing into it” – Stokes said it “would be exciting” to have both pacemen on the field for the opening Test, but warned: “It’s still nine days until it starts, that’s a lot of time for things to fall into place or for something to happen.” The wisdom of this approach was proved even while he was speaking, when, on the other side of the country, two of Australia’s seamers were being assessed for possible injuries.
Every member of the home side’s Ashes squad except Usman Khawaja is playing in domestic Sheffield Shield matches this week, and during Wednesday’s third day of the game between Victoria and New South Wales at the SCG both Josh Hazlewood and Sean Abbott limped from the field of play. With captain Pat Cummins already ruled out of the opening Test with a back injury Australia can ill-afford to lose Hazlewood, another of their premier seamers, and the potential absence of him and the backup option Abbott, who had taken five wickets in the match to Hazlewood’s one, would push 31-year-old Brendan Doggett into contention for his international debut.
