Ben Stokes has pledged to give the Australians as good as he gets in the Investec Ashes series, in which he is expected to attract more sledging than any other England player.
Stokes had high-profile clashes with Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson during England’s whitewash in 2013-14.He was fined 15 per cent of his match fee after giving James Faulkner a send-off during a one-day international in Perth.
And he had to control his temper when West Indies’ Marlon Samuels reacted to his dismissal during the Grenada Test in St George’s in April by saluting him as he marched off to the pavilion.
Stokes, who the Australians believe was the only England player to show any fight during the 5-0 hammering, has played some of his best cricket since being handed the responsibility of the No 6 position in the Test team by stand-in coach Paul Farbrace. But his love of the fray remains constant — and Haddin and Johnson are unlikely to go easy with the verbals if they think they can provoke a reaction.
‘I’m not one to go out of my way to cause an argument,’ said Stokes.
‘But if anyone comes at you on a cricket pitch in a heated moment when the adrenaline’s going then I don’t think anyone in our squad is going to shy away from it.
‘We’ve all got our different ways of handling it. Some guys like to turn their backs and walk away. I’m the other end. I’ll look them in the eye.‘It’s definitely a strength. It’s being in a battle and when you’re in a battle you don’t want to be a loser. If you get involved I don’t want to take a backward step and let them know they’re on top of me and can say what they want and get away with it.’
England coach Trevor Bayliss will be quite happy if Stokes can keep the attitude that brought him a maiden Test century at Perth during that 2013-14 series, followed by a six-wicket haul at Sydney, and the 24-year-old seems relaxed about the possibility of confrontation.
‘My emotions do come out a lot more when I’m bowling,’ he said. ‘There’s more adrenaline than when I’m batting. If there are any incidents it will probably be when I’m bowling.
‘Everyone knows if you choose to pick a battle with someone you’ve got the other 10 guys there behind you.‘It doesn’t mean you’re going to crowd round and start throwing punches. But you know you’ve got the backing of your team-mates, which is really good to have.
‘I’ve been on the receiving end of a few mad Aussies walking around the street and in the crowd. But we’re in England now. We’ve got the support of the whole nation coming up for the next seven weeks. The support we got throughout the one-day series and Tests against New Zealand was amazing.
‘Lord’s on that last day was incredible. We’ve got the backing of the nation. It will be different for Australia coming here and trying to play in England.’
The faith shown in Stokes by Farbrace might just have been the making of him and he was rarely out of the game against New Zealand, either during the Tests or the one-day internationals — with bat and ball.
‘This if the first time I’ve been involved heavily for a good amount of time,’ he said. ‘I do feel more part of it. It’s good to be part of a team that’s wanting to make people watch cricket again. Hopefully we can continue doing that this summer.’ – Daily Mail