Perth holds some good memories for England captain Ben Stokes as the culmination of a four-year project cast in his aggressive image approaches. At the start of this Ashes week, while Australia trained at the ground to prepare for the first Test, the tourists were being, well, tourists. As well as the usual golfers, a handful of players took a boat trip out to Rottnest Island, with Brydon Carse later showing off an impressive fish he had caught.
They resumed in earnest on Tuesday morning in nets that had Joe Root purring about their quality. There was certainly more pace and bounce than during the warmup game at Lilac Hill last week, Root confident that three good sessions is plenty before the big push on Friday. The most positive news was Mark Wood’s 40-minute spell, with a recent scan on a stiff hamstring showing no injury.
Watching Ben Stokes go about his work remains a sight to behold, no stone left unturned and a high bar set for the squad at large. He was last to leave the lanes on Monday, his only real inconvenience being an eye-watering blow to the box from Josh Hull, the left-armer part of the Lions tour but roped in to replicate Mitchell Starc’s angle.
A couple of weeks ago David Warner was asked about the potential for sledging during this Ashes series and, while he expected the odd flare-up, the former opener warned against aiming any jibes at Stokes. “If we can sort of not poke that bear and get him up and about, I think that will help the Australians enormously,” Warner said. But Stokes is likely to be “up and about” regardless.
Perth is a significant place for Stokes, the city where he announced himself in late 2013 with a maiden Test century – 120 from 195 balls aged just 22 years old – to finish the one positive from a 5-0 capitulation. The six-wicket haul that followed in Sydney weeks later ticked a second box. Thereafter, away Ashes tours have not exactly been his best friend, with the 2017-18 and 2021-22 series both ending in 4-0 defeats, the former while he was banned and the latter while he was undercooked.
Clear of those dark times, Stokes is in a very different spot, emboldened by a career-best summer with the ball – 20 wickets at 24 – and refreshed by a detour via New Zealand to see family. He looks in serious shape too, just lacking a hammer for the full thunder-god look. This has been said before, only for injury to then strike – the inherent risk of his full-throttle approach.
