Mark Wood to be ruled out of the Gabba Test, England captain Ben Stokes rejects ‘arrogant’ tag after Ashes loss, defends ‘Bazball’ approach

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

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

“I think being arrogant might go a little too far, but that’s okay. We’ll take the rough with the soft. [I’m] You may get along with words like ridiculous, but are you arrogant? “Sometimes you say, ‘I’m not so sure about that.'”

Stokes said England were “going back to the drawing board” in terms of preparations for the second Test when given three extra days after their defeat in Perth.

He said he understood the criticism that followed England’s decision to send its first-choice XI straight to Brisbane rather than take part in the pink-ball event in Canberra, allowing players to do individual fitness training with a few extra days left in their schedules.

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

“I understand [the criticism]Stokes said: “We’ve got a pink ball game coming up in Brisbane and we’ve got the opportunity to play pink ball cricket. I don’t want to say it makes sense when you look at it like that but I totally understand it.” [that view].

“But of course it’s much more than that. Conditions in Canberra, which is a different state to Brisbane, will be completely different to what we’ll face going forward.”

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

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Despite widespread calls to soften their aggressive approach to Australian conditions, Stokes insisted England were sticking to the all-out offensive strategy they have adopted under Brendon McCullum since 2022.

“Could we have been better at executing what we wanted to do? Absolutely,” Stokes said.

“But we still have a playing mentality of trying to intimidate the opponent while also putting them under pressure.

“Sometimes when you go out there and make a decision, things don’t always turn out or work the way you want them to.

“And the key to the rest of this tour is to make sure we stay true to our beliefs about how we play our cricket.

“But we also know that we can definitely get a lot better in some areas throughout the Test match.”