Ben Stokes hit back at comments from Steve Harmison over England’s schedule ahead of the five-Test series in India.
The England captain has been in rehab following knee surgery at the end of November and hopes to be fit enough to take up the mantle in the first Test match in Hyderabad at the end of January.
Former England fast bowler Harmison took aim at England’s plans to arrive in India just three days before the first Test match, blaming “player power” and saying: “You cannot go to India underprepared.”
But Stokes responded by tweeting: “Good job we’re going to Abu Dhabi for a training camp before we go to India for even more training before the 1st Test then isn’t it.”
England, who lost 3-1 in their previous Indian tour on spinning pitches, do not have any warm-up fixtures scheduled but hope to tune up for the series opener on 25 January with a week-long workout in the United Arab Emirates.
Harmison said on Talksport: “If England go in just three days before, they just have to get beat 5-0, they really do. I’m an old man and that’s what they’re going to say, times have changed, the game has changed. But I’ll tell you what, preparation hasn’t changed. You cannot go into India underprepared, you could be there for six weeks and still go into that first Test and the emotion and cauldron that goes in.
“But going three days before, I’d love to know – you talk about (Kevin) Pietersen and (Sir Alastair) Cook, the only side that’s won there in 2012, what they would think if you were going in three days before, I think they’d have laughed at you.
“To be honest, I love this new approach, I love the Ben Stokes, the Brendon McCullum approach, Rob Key and everything the ECB have done, but I’m sorry, going to India three days before, you would never do that for an Ashes series. You would never go to Australia three days before the Gabba, so why are you going three days before Hyderabad? It’s player power, that’s all it is.”
Stokes is racing to be fully fit for the first Test. England are not expecting him to feature as a bowler but even having him available to bat pain-free would represent an improvement in recent times.
Posting from the gym on Wednesday, he wrote: “Massive progress for the week ... muscle symmetry coming back,” adding: “Finally able to get into the flexion needed for a spin on the bike, for something normally so easy it was very pleasing to be able to do [it] today.”
