Ben Stokes has pushed back against Mitchell Johnson’s accusation that the England team are “arrogant” ahead of the second Ashes Test.
England suffered a shocking two-day defeat in the opening Test in Perth, and are in need of an almighty response in the day-night match with a pink ball in Brisbane next week.
But their preparation for the second Test has been overshadowed by an inquest into the disastrous second day in Perth, as well as scrutiny over their decision not to send key bowlers and batters to play in a pink-ball warm-up match in Canberra.
England have instead chosen to train in the nets for five days ahead of the crucial showdown at The Gabba.
Former Australia pace bowler Mitchell Johnson branded them “arrogant” in a strongly worded column for the West Australian newspaper, which had previously branded Stokes “cocky captain complainer” on his arrival at the airport.
Speaking before England’s first training session in Brisbane, Stokes took issue with those who questioned the character of his side.
“I think arrogant might be a little bit too far, but that’s OK. We’ll take the rough with the smooth,” he said. “Call us whatever you want. I’d rather words like ‘rubbish’, but ‘arrogant’, I’m not so sure about that. We didn’t have the Test match that we wanted to but we were great in passages of that game.”
Fans who stayed up late to tune in from the UK and several thousand who made the long trip Down Under were united in dismay and frustration after England turned a strong position at lunch on day two into a thumping defeat inside just a few hours. And Stokes insists the players feel the same pain.
“It’s a results-based job that we're in. We love our fans and we know we’ve got an incredible fanbase who come out here and support us,” he said. “They want to see us win, we want to win, we’re absolutely desperate. They’re absolutely desperate. We’re all on the same wavelength.
“We know that there'll be a lot of disappointed fans in England after that first defeat. But it’s a five game series, we’ve got four games to go. We’ve lost the first one – we’re absolutely desperate to come home with that goal from before we even started the series, which is to win the Ashes.”
Meanwhile the former England fast bowler Stuart Broad said the second Ashes Test will be a lottery and the toss is a key factor in Brisbane with the pink ball.
Australia have won 13 of their 14 day-night tests with their only loss coming at the Gabba last year against the West Indies. England have won only two out of their seven pink-ball matches. They have lost all three in Australia, with a 120 run-defeat in Adelaide in 2017, before 275-run and 146-run defeats in Adelaide and Hobart in 2021.
“We know the pink-ball Test, having played a few ourselves, is a bit of a lottery,” Broad, who has played in all of England’s pink-ball Tests so far, said on For The Love of Cricket podcast.
“It is all about timing a little bit of when you bowl with the brand new ball. Winning the toss and batting is pretty crucial in the pink-ball Test in my opinion.”
additional reporting by agencies
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