Allrounder heading to Australia?

Ben Stokes hasn’t been at the forefront of Darren Lehmann’s mind, but the Aussie coach has put some planning in place for the English allrounder.

Stokes is looking more and more likely to take his place in the Ashes squad, possibly in time for the third Test in Perth, starting December 14.

Stokes (pictured) was stood down by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), pending the result of a police investigation.

British press reported that local police will decide this week whether Stokes will be charged over a now infamous incident outside a Bristol nightspot in September that left a man hospitalised with facial injuries.

“You’re always planning for every player, even though he’s not in the squad,” Lehmann told reporters.

“We’ll just wait and see what happens with ECB and the courts. We can’t worry about it at the moment.

“They’ve got their squad that they think can win the Ashes. For us it’s more of a case of dealing with the squad they’ve got here. He’s obviously a high-quality player. That’s up to them.”

As England touched down in Brisbane ahead of the first Test, starting Thursday, wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow said the Stokes saga would be resolved “sooner rather than later”.

“You know far more about that than I do,” he said.

“Look, it’d be amazing if Stokesy comes out here.

“We don’t know what’s going on at the moment, that’s completely out of our hands.

“But I’m sure it will get resolved sooner rather than later, we hope, because at the end of the day we want the best cricketers playing in the Ashes don’t we?”

Stokes has been practising in the nets in Durham.