Ben Stokes urged to be more aggressive with the bat after struggling on Ashes return

Ben Stokes has not yet had the impact on the Ashes that England would have hoped for, with the all-rounder scoring just 65 runs and taking three wickets in the first two Tests.

Having returned from a five-month break for the series, Stokes has looked understandably rusty at times.

However, former Australia star Shane Watson believes Stokes needs to be more aggressive with the bat, with his strike-rate of 26.53 the lowest of any of England's batters this series.

"What has really blown me away is to see the defensive way in which Ben Stokes has batted," Watson wrote in his column for the Times. "I’m gobsmacked.

Ben Stokes has been urged to bat more aggressively, with his strike-rate in the ongoing Ashes series the lowest of any of England's batters (Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

"It goes against everything that he is — the person he is, the player he is. It is obviously a tactic because of his big back-and-across movements to the quick bowlers; he’s just not trying to score.

"When he is at his best he’s got no fear, he’s taking the bowling on no matter what the conditions, and he has such incredible skill that it doesn’t matter whether he’s facing spin or the quicks.

"The bowlers have to bowl the perfect ball otherwise he’s all over it because he’s got shots all around the ground.

"I’m racking my brain as to why this would be his game plan. I think it is perhaps because he has come into the series underdone in terms of preparation.

"Maybe he’s trying to find his way into the series by spending time in the middle. But the Australian bowlers are just dictating play.

"They can bowl wherever they want. He’s not going to score. At some stage he is going to get out and without having really made an impact on the scoreboard."

Shane Watson says the way Stokes has batted in the series so far has left him "gobsmacked" (Virendra Singh/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

England need to win the three remaining Tests if they are to regain the urn and leading run scorer Dawid Malan has insisted the squad are up for the challenge.

"It's up to us to put in a lot better performance," he said. "Everyone's up for it, everyone wants to win, which is still a good place to be.

"The mood is still good, the mood is still positive. We haven't lost the series yet. We've got a big hill to climb to get back into series, but that starts in this [third] Test match."