England leave door open for Stokes
‘upbeat’ all-rounder could play part in Ashes if finger heals silverwood names strongest available squad to face Australia
England have left open the possibility of Ben Stokes making a dramatic late entry into the Ashes tour despite leaving him out of the original 17-man squad.
Stokes (right) is still recovering from his badly broken left index finger and taking time off for his mental well-being.
His name was missing from the Ashes squad announced by head coach Chris Silverwood yesterday, but in an echo of the last tour to Australia four years ago, Stokes could be continually linked with a last-minute return after the series starts in Brisbane on Dec 8.
Stokes missed the 2017-18 tour due to his court case, but speculation of a return overshadowed the entire trip, rising when he flew to New Zealand to play first-class cricket for Christchurch while England were playing the second Test in Adelaide.
Ultimately, England decided to phase his return after the Ashes tour, worried about him being a lightning rod for abuse from the Australian media and supporters.
But this time Stokes’s return could be more clear cut if his finger is better and he feels able to step back into the pressured world of Test cricket. Stokes had a second operation on the finger on Monday and was immediately said to be feeling better and more positive about the future. Silverwood reiterated his stance that he would not put pressure on Stokes to return and it will be generally left to captain Joe Root to stay in touch with his friend and official vice-captain.
“Ben is moving forward, the communications I have had with him he is definitely more upbeat. But what I will say is there will be no pressure from me for him to rush back,” said Silverwood.
“I’ve said when you’re ready you call me and we’ll make a plan from there. My concern first and foremost is his well-being. And when he
does come back we’ll make sure he’s in the right place.”
Silverwood named the strongest possible squad yesterday, boosted by all fit and available players agreeing to the tour’s Covid quarantine and bubble conditions, and praised Root for leading the discussions with Cricket Australia. “He showed a lot of class and empathy towards both sides of the argument, towards Cricket Australia and towards his players,” said Silverwood. “His players have got behind him and will follow him, so will I and my staff. We’ve got to a good place before what should be a very competitive series in Australia.”
Silverwood believes England can do “something special” in Australia, but they remain heavily reliant on 39-year-old James Anderson and Stuart Broad for wickets and Root for runs. How they will take 20 wickets without express pace apart from Mark Wood, and score heavy first-innings runs, is the challenge. Expectations are low after a difficult summer when they lost to New Zealand
and were 2-1 down to India when the last Test was postponed.
“We are battle hardened, we’ve had some success along the way and we’ve proven we can compete with India. The important thing for me is our players have seen what the best in the world look like, they’ve played against it, they’ve felt what it is to have them push against us,” said Silverwood.
Later this week England will name a Lions squad to shadow the main tour and provide opposition for two warm-up games.