Ben Stokes has accepted the criticism that followed his England side’s two-day defeat in Perth as part of being in the results business but said he draws a line at the notion his players were “arrogant” in their approach.
That particular word was used by former Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson in a strongly-worded column for the West Australian newspaper and has been a theme of the wider reaction.
The majority of England players sitting out a two-day tour match in Canberra this week in favour of extra training in Brisbane only added fuel to the fire.
Perceptions can only be truly changed out in the middle but the size of the task ahead of England is now considerable. This much-hyped Ashes series resumes with a day-night second Test that gets underway on Thursday at the Gabba – a ground that last witnessed an England victory back in 1986.
“You can call us rubbish, call us whatever you want to,” said Stokes, before England began training with the pink Kookaburra ball at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Saturday morning. “I think arrogant might be a little bit too far, but that’s OK.
“We’ll take the rough with the smooth. 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.”
Asked about the reaction from supporters, both the thousands who have made the trip to Australia and those at home watching through the night, Stokes replied: “It’s a results-based job that we’re in. We love our fans.
“We know we’ve got an incredible fanbase who come out here and support us. 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’re doing absolutely everything within our powers and using our time as best we can to allow us to go out there to try and achieve that goal.”
