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

Regarding his “bygone” comments at the tour press conference, Stokes said: “Everyone knows it was a slip of the tongue. I explained it off the record. I completely misunderstood the words I said there.”

“I think everyone knows that, it’s just that I’ve never been asked on camera to say I misunderstood my words. ‘Obsolete’ is a terrible word.”

“That was the only thing that came out of my mouth at that moment. God, I’m going to be one of them.” [a former player] One day. “That’s a completely false statement and I think everyone knows that’s not what I meant.”

The tourists’ decision to head straight to Queensland for their first Test innings, as well as the decision to turn down the chance for extra match practice in Canberra, was widely condemned, while former Ashes tormentor Mitchell Johnson described Stokes’ team as “arrogant” and “at risk of serious embarrassment” over the summer with their ultra-aggressive approach.

Stokes said in response: “You can call us bullshit, call us whatever you want.”

“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.

Loading

“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.

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.”

News, results and expert analysis from the sports weekend delivered every Monday. Sign up for our sports newsletter.