Ben Stokes says his England team-mates should ‘present a little bit of canine’ to face any likelihood of holding Ashes sequence alive
Ben Stokes has called on England’s cricketers to ‘show a bit of dog’ as they try to avoid going 3–0 down to Australia, but he insisted: ‘This team is anything but deflated.’
England must win the third Test in Adelaide, starting later tonight, to stay in the Ashes, and Stokes has emphasised to team-mates that there can be no excuses for feeling cowed by the experience – both on and off the pitch – of touring Australia.
‘I remember my first tour here, and you try to imagine what it’s going to be like,’ he said. ‘And when it does come around, it’s like: “Wow.” But now everyone has experienced that, probably at its highest level, we all know what it’s going to be like.
‘So for the next three games, there isn’t going to be any of that “I didn’t expect this” or “It’s the first time I’ve had this.”’
Above all, Stokes called on his players to ‘fight in every situation you find yourself in and understanding what you feel is required for your team. Just look at your opposition every single time, and show a bit of dog. That’s fight, to me.’
The template England will use as they try to become only the second side in Test history, after Don Bradman’s 136-37 Australians, to turn a 2–0 deficit into a 3–2 win, will be the Lord’s victory over India in July, when Shubman Gill reacted to English time-wasting by telling Zak Crawley to ‘grow some f***ing balls’.
Ben Stokes has called on England’s cricketers to ‘show a bit of dog’ in Adelaide when the third Test begins on Wednesday
England head into the Test on the brink of losing The Ashes after being defeated in both of the first two Tests
That led coach Brendon McCullum to tell his players they were ‘too nice’, changing the mood of a tense game, which England won by 22 runs.
‘That’s exactly what I’m on about,’ said Stokes. ‘We all identified that moment. And you’ve seen the way that team came out on that day. We were probably in a situation that day where we would have to be absolutely perfect to win that game and we were.’
And England’s captain has reassured fans that his players – who for this game will include Josh Tongue in place of Gus Atkinson – are in the right frame of mind, despite the defeats at Perth and Brisbane.
‘There’s no deflated feelings whatever in this team,’ he said. ‘There obviously were after the first two games, but sitting here right now there’s none of that. If there were, what would be the point in turning up?’
Both teams will wear black armbands to honour those who died in Sunday evening’s atrocity at Bondi Beach.
