England captain Ben Stokes had an unusual start to his Ashes press conference on Wednesday, with team-mate Mark Wood interrupting the session with a burst of ‘Barbie Girl’.
Stokes had just sat down to take questions ahead of the fifth Test against Australia when the opening bars of Aqua’s 1997 pop hit began reverberating around the Kia Oval’s indoor school.
Stokes, who was five years old when the novelty track became a UK number one, took the moment in his stride as he puffed his cheeks in deadpan fashion before before correctly guessing the culprit.
Looking up and over his shoulder towards the team gym, he shouted “Woody” as laughter from the assembled journalists replaced the music.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, launched in cinemas in the UK last week.
Stokes proceeded to name an unchanged XI and spent 15 minutes speaking to reporters, but Wood’s DJ set was not quite complete.
As Stokes finished his appearance and stood up to leave, Wood reprised the prank by playing The Imperial March by composer John Williams – better known as the song that heralds the appearance of Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies.
