Ben Stokes says he has landed in Australia “absolutely desperate” to fly home in January as one of the “lucky few captains” to lift the Ashes on Australian soil. England’s captain, who has never won a five-match series, wants his side to write their own chapter rather than dwell on the 13-0 aggregate from the last three tours.
Friday’s first Test in Perth launches England’s attempt to regain the urn for the first time since 2015 and to win it away for only the sixth time since the Second World War. Australia are shorn of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood for the opener, while fast bowler Brendan Doggett and left-hander Jake Weatherald could debut, yet Stokes is wary of reading too much into those absences.
Sir Andrew Strauss remains the most recent England captain to triumph Down Under, steering a 3-1 victory in 2010-11. Stokes is aiming to join him and, like Ray Illingworth in 1970-71, take the Ashes back off Australia. “Personally, I do understand how big a series this is but it’s not putting any more effort into this one than I have done any other series I’ve been captain,” he insisted.
Protecting the dressing-room from excess noise has been a theme of Stokes’s tenure. When he and head coach Brendon McCullum named a 12-man squad on Wednesday – including uncapped off-spinner Shoaib Bashir – it felt like a deliberate pause before confirming the all-pace attack many expect. Mark Wood is available after a minor hamstring scare; England could still draft cover if anything flares up before the toss.
Asked whether his men had to keep their feet on the ground rather than chase sporting immortality, Stokes quipped: “I can’t say we are going to be immortal because we all die, don’t we?” It was a typically dry dismissal of grandiose narratives, though he does not want players to ignore the scale of the occasion altogether.
“Everyone in the world, everyone in Australia, everyone in England knows how big this series is,” he said. “If we were to come out and not accept that and go on that as just another series, then we’d only be lying to ourselves and lying to the fact of what this series is.”
Stokes, Wood, Joe Root, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope are the only members of the touring party with Ashes experience in Australia. They have tried to pass on small details – the extra carry at Optus Stadium, the long spells in heat, the constant scrutiny – without overwhelming the newer faces.
Former England spinner Graeme Swann, speaking on the Around The Wicket podcast, labelled Stokes “the most talented all-rounder since Kallis” and believes his aggressive fields will be crucial. Statistician Freddie Wilde points out that England have averaged an attacking shot every 4.1 balls under Stokes, compared with every 6.7 previously; the challenge will be balancing that intent against Australia’s pace, even without Cummins.
England’s brains trust privately views the opening Test as pivotal. Win in Perth and the narrative from 13-0 tilts immediately. Lose, and history looms large again. Stokes, though, narrowed it down to human basics. “I’ve come here absolutely desperate to get home on that plane in January as one of the lucky few captains from England who have come here and been successful,” he said.
A tight-rope of ambition and realism, then, as England chase a prize that has eluded them for 15 years, knowing full well what awaits if they fail, but daring – quietly – to join the select group who did not.
