‘Call us rubbish. But don’t call us arrogant’: Stokes defends England team

3 months ago 17

Ben Stokes has rejected allegations of arrogance against his touring England side, but insisted the tourists won’t deviate from their all-or-nothing ‘Bazball’ approach on Australian pitches during the remainder of the Ashes series.

England have bunkered down for the past week since a calamitous two-day loss in Perth, emerging for their first training session in Brisbane after a week of fierce criticism of everything from their game plans to tour schedule.

The team’s decision to head straight to Queensland, knocking back the chance for extra match practice in Saturday’s pink-ball, day-night Prime Minister’s XI match in Canberra, has been largely condemned, while all manner of unflattering descriptors have been levelled by former players and media.

England’s cavalier approach in the first Test has been labelled everything from “gutless”, “dumb” and “self-destructive”, while former Ashes tormentor Mitchell Johnson described Stokes’ side as “arrogant” and “risked serious embarrassment” throughout the summer with their ultra-aggressive approach.

“Call us rubbish, call us whatever you want,” Stokes said in response at Brisbane’s Allan Border Oval on Saturday. “We didn’t have the Test match that we wanted but we were great in passages of that game.

“I think arrogant might be a little bit too far, but that’s OK. We’ll take the rough with the smooth. [I’m] OK with words like rubbish, but arrogant? Sometimes you’re like, ‘I’m not so sure about that one’.”

Stokes said England went “back to the drawing board” in terms of their second-Test preparation once presented with an extra three days after their loss in Perth.

He said he understood the criticism that followed the decision to send England’s first-choice XI straight to Brisbane rather than joining the pink-ball affair in Canberra, with players conducting individual fitness training with the extra few days opened up in their schedule.

Before Saturday, the English camp had not conducted any media aside from Mark Wood’s appearance on a podcast with ex-teammate Stuart Broad and a few dead-batted questions from reporters at Perth airport.

England will have two afternoon training sessions at the Gabba and two evening practices under lights to prepare for day-night Test conditions.

“I do understand it [the criticism],” Stokes said. “We have a pink-ball match coming up in Brisbane, and we have an opportunity to play some pink-ball cricket. When you look at it just like that, I don’t want to say it makes sense, but I totally understand it [that view].

“But there’s obviously a lot more to it than just that. There’s where it is, in Canberra, which is a different state from Brisbane – the conditions are going to be completely different to what we are going to have coming up.”

England’s dramatic second-innings collapse, and Travis Head’s blistering century, overshadowed the fact the tourists looked likely winners at lunch on day two in Perth.

Despite widespread calls to temper their aggressive approach to Australian conditions, Stokes insisted England remained committed to the strategy of all-out attack they have adopted under Brendon McCullum since 2022.