The Ashes 2025/26: England desperate to avenge ‘drawn’ debut Test performance in Perth, says captain Ben Stokes | Cricket News

Ben Stokes believes some of the criticism leveled at his England team has gone too far, but would rather be called “moronic” rather than “arrogant”.

A two-day defeat during the first Ashes Test in Perth last week has led to plenty of tough questions for the tourists, who have been criticized for their pre-series preparations, loose shot selection and the decision not to send senior players to this weekend’s pink ball warm-up match in Canberra.

Former Australian pace bowler Mitchell Johnson called them “arrogant” in a strongly worded column for the West Australian newspaper, which had previously called Stokes an “arrogant, complaining captain”.

Speaking ahead of the first of five training sessions in Brisbane ahead of Thursday’s second day/night Test, Stokes took issue with those questioning his team’s character.

“I think arrogant is maybe a little too excessive, but that’s OK. We’ll take the hard with the soft,” he said.

“Call us what you want. I prefer words like ‘rubbish’, but ‘arrogant’ I’m not so sure. We didn’t have the Test match we wanted but we were excellent in parts of that match.”

Fans who stayed up late tuning in from the United Kingdom and several thousand who made the long journey to the West Indies were united in dismay and frustration after England turned their strong position at lunch on the second day into a crushing defeat in just a few hours.

And Stokes insists the players feel the same pain.

“We do results-oriented work. We love our fans and we know we have an incredible fan base that comes here and supports us,” he said.

“They want to see us win, we want to win, we are absolutely desperate. They are absolutely desperate. We are all on the same page.

“We know there will be a lot of disappointed fans in England after that first defeat. But it’s a five-match series, we’ve got four games to go. We lost the first one – we’re absolutely desperate to come home with that goal before we even started the series, which is to win the Ashes.”

England plan additional training in Brisbane

England have booked extra training sessions in Brisbane ahead of the second Ashes Test as they look to bounce back from a two-day drubbing in the series opener in Perth.

The tourists announced on Monday that no first-choice players would travel to Canberra this weekend for the pink-ball tour match against the Prime Minister’s XI, with only batter Jacob Bethell and seamers Josh Tongue and Matthew Potts joining the Lions squad.

England will spend five days together in Brisbane before the day-night Test at the Gabba on Thursday, December 4, with an optional training slot on Saturday and a session on Sunday added to the preparation.

Saturday’s morning session will take place at Allan Border Field, with the remaining four training sessions – two in the afternoon, two under lights – taking place at The Gabba from Sunday to Wednesday.

England lost 172 and 164 in Perth as they suffered a 14th defeat in their last 16 Test matches in Australia – the other two results in this period were draws.

Hussain: England ‘not arrogant’ to skip tour match

Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain on England missing out on pink ball match in Canberra:

“It’s not arrogant.

“They could play this game against the pink ball, but The Gabba is so different to Canberra, which can be slow and low, if you listen to the Australians here.

“At the Gabba, England will train under lights, in the nets, with a pink ball to get used to the conditions.

“I’ve heard stuff about ‘you need to go and play this two-day game because it will be so bad if you then go to Brisbane and lose’.

“But you don’t do things because you think it might look bad if you lose. You do things because you think it’s the best way to prepare a team to win.

“They decided the best way to prepare was under the lights of the Gabba nets.”

England has the right to “keep cool” in its decisions

Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton, speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast:

“If an England batter had said, ‘I really want to feel the touch of the ball in a competitive match,’ then go to Canberra – I’m sure that would have been the case. But I have no problem with England’s decision not to go.

“Not only are the pitch conditions different, but so is the climate. Cool in Canberra, hot and humid at The Gabba.

“As a hitter, I would have wanted to arrive at The Gabba in time to get used to the pace, bounce and heat, rather than having a rushed arrival from Canberra.

“The easiest thing to do is to panic and make a decision based on what it looks like, but I think you have to keep your cool at this point. Why change course now from decisions made some time ago?”

Ashes series in Australia 2025-26

Every hour in the UK and Ireland

• First test (Perth – November 21-25): Australia beat England by eight wickets
• Second test (day/night): Thursday December 4 – Monday December 8 (4am) – The Gabba, Brisbane
• Third try: Wednesday December 17 – Sunday December 21 (11:30 p.m.) – Adelaide Oval
• Fourth try: Thursday December 25 – Monday December 29 (11:30 p.m.) – Melbourne Cricket Ground
• Fifth try: Sunday January 4 – Thursday January 8 (11:30 p.m.) – Sydney Cricket Ground