The Ashes: England captain Ben Stokes comes off the long run after The West Australian’s call out

Possibly spurred on by The West Australian’s back page today, Ben Stokes has finally rolled his arm over two days after arriving in Perth ahead of the first Test at Optus Stadium on November 21. However, if one of England’s most notorious Ashes villains is to be believed, the English skipper is paying the media microscope little heed. The West made international headlines with Wednesday’s front page labelling the polarising skipper “England’s Cocky Captain Complainer”, with Stuart Broad, who joins Seven’s Ashes coverage for this series, revealing he has seen a message where Stokes responded to the back page with laughing emojis. “I actually have seen a message from him with 18 or 20 laughing faces (emojis) under that headline, which it feels like he’s quite relaxed at the minute,” Broad said on the For The Love of Cricket podcast. “Stokes is a hardened 34-year-old, been through a lot. So he’ll be very ready and smiling, at the minute.” Stokes, who has not played any form of cricket since July as he recovers from a shoulder injury, was in a jovial mood as he kitted himself up first to bat and bowl on Thursday morning at the Pom’s Lilac Hill training base. And while he did take the ball in hand, one of England’s spearheads, Jofra Archer, was a notable absentee for the second day in a row. Archer, who arrived on Sunday night, has played only 13 Tests for England and made a return from a four-and-a-half-year injury break against India in July. Fellow star fast bowler Mark Wood looked sharp but ginger as he hit the nets. England have had plenty to say in the lead-up to the series, particularly surrounding blowing Australia away with their aggressiveness, but former English skipper Michael Vaughan has warned Stokes and his men they need to earn the right to play that way. “You can’t just play the aggressive way in Australia all the time, you have to go up and down in the gears,” Vaughan told the Following On podcast. “Yes, you have that mindset of wanting to be aggressive, but if you’re facing (Josh) Hazlewood and (Mitchell) Starc … the bigger boundaries, you’ve got to be very wary. “I haven’t seen a team play that way and win in Australia. I’ve seen many teams earn the right to play that way around the 30th over mark to the 80th over mark when the ball is a bit softer.” Stokes arrived in Perth on Tuesday night and hit the ground running on Wednesday with a short batting session, but did not bowl. But the red-headed all-rounder was put through his paces on Thursday and put in work at the bowling crease, and when he wasn’t bowling, he was barking orders at the quicks and spinners as they bowled. The session came as The West doubled down on Wednesday’s front page, labelling Stokes a “Sitting Duck” on the front and having “No Balls” on the back page because he failed to bowl on Wednesday. Stokes’ bowling today was carefree as he warmed up with a few gentle deliveries before moving to the long run against opener Ben Duckett. Duckett was given a torrid examination from England’s quicks and a greenish practice wicket. Stokes batted for 30 minutes in each of his two batting stints out in the middle. First drop Ollie Pope, who batted twice with Stokes, looked strong, given two looks at the rapid heat of Wood. Wood sported a compression sleeve on his left leg for the entirety of the session, and despite barely bowling more than three overs worth of deliveries, he needed to walk off a limp on that leg. He last played a Test for England in August last year and missed this year’s English summer series against India due to a knee injury. He returned for a second spell as Stokes and Pope returned to the crease, while also getting in some deliveries around the wicket to Duckett, as he is likely to target Australian opener Usman Khawaja. Wood was popular with the few English fans who came out to watch their team train, signing bats and taking almost as many selfies as he bowled deliveries. Among the others, Gus Atkinson was given a bat and a bowl, on the end of instructions after both, as Josh Tongue was given two spells and bowled well. Rangy off-spinner Shoaib Bashir also put in a long spell but bailed when he saw Stokes return, while one of his fellow spinners was dispatched into the media contingent by Pope. The rest of the English squad is expected to arrive over the weekend, with the official camp starting on Monday and a practice clash against the English Lions scheduled for next Thursday, during which all of the Test players will be involved.