Ben Stokes admits England’s focus is on Ashes as well as West Indies series

Ben Stokes (right) is bringing James Anderson’s England career to an end in an effort to create a team capable of winning back the Ashes in Australia in 18 months. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

England’s Test summer belatedly starts against West Indies at Lord’s on Wednesday, with Ben Stokes admitting that his focus is not just on the Richards-Botham Trophy that is immediately at stake but on the more distant goal of the Ashes.

“We’re not focusing on that over what we need to do here. We’ve got a lot of Test cricket to play before Australia,” the England captain said. “But we had to make some decisions around what we think is best for the team going into that series.”