The English captain is playing his cards close to his chest.
Ben Stokes fronted the media in Western Australia on Wednesday nine days away from the first Ashes Test and remained tight-lipped selection and fitness.
He offered a one-word responses to queries about his own fitness before playing an un-BazBall like straight bat to questions about Mark Wood and Jofra Archer.
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“Good,” Stokes said when asked how his body was feeling.
“Yep,” he added, when pressed on whether his body was feeling good enough to get sustained bowling.
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England is coming with an army of fast bowlers, headlined by its speedsters Archer and Wood.
Wood turned the series 2023 while Archer had a brilliant battle with Steve Smith without dismissing the Australian champion.
Stokes said both were “flying” in training but refused to reveal whether they would play together in Perth or be on managed loads.
“It would be exciting, wouldn’t it?” Stokes said.
“It’s nine days until that first Test match, so there’s a lot of time for stuff to fall into place or something to happen
“At the moment, from a fast bowling point of view, the guys who we’ve picked are all in a really good place.”
One of the few questions Stokes offered an elaborate answer on was in response to England’s highly-criticised lead into the Ashes.
England is playing one warm-up match against the English Lions at Lilac Hill before taking on the Aussies at Optus Stadium next Friday.
Stokes knocked back suggestions England was underprepared, saying cricket had evolved from two or three warm-up matches.
“I don’t really know what we’re supposed to do, to be honest, we’ve been preparing for this for a long time,” he said.
“There’s obviously state cricket going on at the moment, I know a couple of the Australian boys are playing.
“Time obviously must be taken into consideration, we’ve had some of our squad members out here recently playing a series in New Zealand.
“The schedule is pretty jam packed … I think there’s a lot of factors that have changed over the years in cricket.
“In terms of preparation, we’ve been preparing for this for a very long time, we put a lot of time and effort into how we prepare for every series and that hasn’t changed with this one.”
POMS HIT BACK OVER CONTROVERSY
England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick has defended the team’s Ashes preparation amid severe criticism from several cricket greats adamant the lack of warm-up games is “the way of the modern game”.
And he declared veteran Joe Root had gone to “the next level” in recent years predicting the century in Australia which has eluded him would come this time around.
The likes of Sir Ian Botham and even Geoffrey Boycott have slammed the one-match lead-in to next week’s first Test in Perth, a game against an England second XI, as bordering on “arrogance”.
But pointing to the glut of white-ball cricket several squad members played in New Zealand last month before travelling to Australia, and the tight time frames of a packed schedule, Trescothick said the lack of other matches against local opposition was of little concern to the team which is preparing in Perth.
“I think the way the series are generally done, for us and other teams around the world, you don’t generally have the time for preparations like playing two or three first class games which has happened in the past,” he said after training on Tuesday.
“You generally roll with a prep game and some facilities whatever you have available and you go from there.
“Most of the guys have been playing in New Zealand for us. Some of the guys have come out from England but it’s the way of the modern game.”
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England will take on an Australia team in Perth minus inspirational leader Pat Cummins but Trescothick doubted it would have an impact on the home team, or handed the tourists an advantage.
“I don’t think it will be any different in terms of our mantra and what our thinking will be,” he said.
“We trust in ability and what we think we can do. Pat is a wonderful bowler and a great leader.
“But we are still very pleased in how we are preparing … and very hopeful about what we could achieve.”
There’s a sense of confidence in the English outfit under their own brave leader Ben Stokes, and that extends to the batting form of Root who os out to score an elusive hundred in Australia.
Root, 34, has amassed 13543 Test runs, and 39 centuries and is the world’s No.1 ranked Test batter.
He scored three hundreds in his team’s most recent series against India and it’s that level of output which has Trescothick confident Root would make his breakthrough century this series, quite possibly his last tour of Australia.
“I think the way he has gone in the last couple of years would explain that he’d be very comfortable with what he’s trying to do at the moment,” he said.
“We have seen Joe grow massively in the past three years under Brendon (Coach Brendon McCullum) and Ben (Stokes) and the style of play we have had.
“His game has gone to the next level and you’d be very surprised if he doesn’t carry on in that same vein really with the style of player he is and the quality performer he is.”
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‘I WAS ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE’
Queensland opener Matthew Renshaw has confessed he was disappointed to miss selection for Australia’s Ashes opener in Perth, but acknowledged he has handled the snub better than earlier in his career.
Despite starting the season with a Sheffield Shield century in Brisbane and a trio of impressive performances in Australia’s ODI team, the 29-year-old was not picked in Australia’s 15-player squad for the first Test against England, with Tasmanian opener Jake Weathered earning a maiden call-up.
Renshaw responded to the omission by cracking 101, his 25th first-class hundred, on day one of Queensland’s red-ball clash against Western Australia at the WACA, steering the Bulls towards 6-323 at stumps after being asked to bat first.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday evening, the left-hander recalled how poorly he reacted to being dropped from the Test side eight years ago, when he missed selection for the 2017/18 Ashes and was replaced by Cameron Bancroft.
“There was a bit of disappointment straight away, but then you realise it’s not the end of the world. You still get to come play some cricket over here (in Perth),” Renshaw said.
“It’s a lot different to the way I handled it eight years ago (when I was dropped). I was absolutely nowhere for a while.
“I just wanted to enjoy myself today.”
Renshaw, the only Queensland player to score more than 50, was dismissed by West Australian seamer Cameron Gannon after gloving a pull shot through to wicketkeeper Josh Inglis.
“I would have liked to get a bigger one. 101 is a little bit disappointing for me,” Renshaw confessed.
“It’s one of those ones where you want to try and get a big one when you get in.”
CHAPPELL CALLS FOR SPECIALIST OPENER
Australian cricket legend Greg Chappell has again urged selectors to back specialist opener Jake Weatherald in next week’s first Ashes Test.
Chappell recently referred to opening with traditional No.3 Marnus Labuschagne as “extremely risky” in his column for ESPN Cricinfo and doubled down on Tuesday.
Weatherald will face England alongside Usman Khawaja if the selectors opt to keep Labuschagne in his preferred position.
Chappell said “you need to want to” open and doubts whether greats like his brother Ian or Ricky Ponting would have been as good if they were ever elevated from No.3.
“I hope the powers that be know who their first-choice opener alongside Khawaja is because I think it’s an important role, it always has been,” Chappell said as Australia promoted the 150th anniversary Test in March 2027.
“Specialists have generally done better than people who have been press-ganged into the role.
“Opening is a role I think you need to want to do and most openers are pretty passionate about getting in there and batting first.
“It’s not a matter of, ‘We’ll pick our No.3 batsman to go and open’ because Ian (Chappell) batted No.3 for Australia, Ricky Ponting batted No.3 for Australia.
“I am not sure they would’ve been as good as openers because it probably wasn’t their passion to open the batting.
“I hope they make the right choice whatever they do. Whoever goes out there will be doing their best, that’s for sure.”
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When Weatherald was named in the 15-man squad for Perth, chief selector George Bailey repeatedly lauded the way the left-hander scored his runs.
Weatherald made just 23 for Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield on Monday but crunched five fours in his transient stay at the crease.
Chappell, who played 87 Tests for Australia, said it was important to have a mix of styles at the top of the order.
“I think you need a mix at that level, you don’t want both players batting the same way, so that synergy between the openers is pretty important,” he said.
“Knowing their role, if one is going well (then) the other is the support act on that particular day.
“Again, it’s just a matter of whoever the two are who walk out there are on the same page and want to be there doing the job.
“It is an interesting England attack. I think it’s exciting to think we’re going to see a real contest.
“History tells us every series that has been won in Australia has been won by the best bowling, which has usually been fast bowling.”
Botham backs Poms’ pace attack v Aussies | 01:31
BOTHAM BACKS WINDIES-LIKE ATTACK
Cricket icon Sir Ian Botham says the all-out pace attack the West Indies deployed to strong effect in the 1980s should be the blueprint for England when the Ashes begins in Perth next week.
The tourists have brought frontline quicks Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Matthew Potts, Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse to Australia in search of a first away series win in 15 years.
Botham backed the plan to send fiery fast bowling the way of the Australians declaring no batters “like it in the ribs”.
“I think the West Indies did pretty well with four pace bowlers and had six waiting to get in,” he said.
“I think it’s the right way, you want to be aggressive, you want to come through and players if they’re not playing very well don’t like it in the ribs.
“It will be interesting … I don’t know if they’ll be able to rattle them, a lot of these guys have been around a long time.
“It’s not a case of rattling them, it’s a case of going out and trying to win and that’s what they do.
“They lose a few, they win a few.”
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Botham threw his support around a lesser-known quick, as the likelihood of Wood and Archer getting through five Tests is increasingly low.
He backed Carse to be the bowler who could impress in Australian conditions and step up.
“I think Carse might surprise a few of you,” Botham said.
“He’s a very aggressive bowler, he’s got enough pace to make you hop around a bit and he can bat a bit – he’s a good cricketer.
“Everyone is focused on Wood and Archer, but I think Carse will slide in quietly there.”
The Ashes begin in Perth on November 21, kickstarting a five-match series that finishes in Sydney in January.
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