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Ben Stokes makes cheeky 'Ashwin' remark over sensational Ashes playing XI decision for 1st Test
Ben Stokes namedropped Ravichandran Ashwin over England's crucial playing XI decision in the Ashes Test.
The Ashes 2023 kicked off at Birmingham’s Edgbaston ground on June 16, featuring a fiersome battle between the freshly-crowned World Test Champions and the reinvograted and new-look ‘Bazball’ England team. England announced their starting lineup for the first Test a couple of days in advance of the toss at Edgbaston, while Australia held their cards close to chest until the toss, where Ben Stokes opted to bat.
Some big decisions have been made by the leadership group of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, such as the recall of Moeen Ali from retirement following the injury to frontline spinner Jack Leach. Another big call was the non-selection of Mark Wood in favour of the experience of Stuart Broad, who had earlier claimed he wasn’t certain whether he would play the first Test.
Also read: 'I should've never become a bowler': Ashwin's distressing remark in reaction to Gavaskar's old ‘horses for courses’ rant
Ben Stokes in the pre-match press revealed the reason for Broad’s selection — he will be specifically used to target David Warner, who was given a torrid time by the English pacer in the 2019 series.
“It’s just one of those things – like Ashwin against me. Broady has been an unbelievable performer over many years,” said Stokes. Broad dismissed Warner 7 times in 10 innings in the 2019 series, with the style of dismissal becoming a recurring nightmare for the Australian opener, as the around-the-wicket angle bothered him throughout.
The reason for namedropping Ashwin was simple; Stokes doesn't enjoy a strong record against the India off-spinner. Ashwin has dismissed the English captain on 15 occasions in international cricket so far, 11 of them in Tests.
“What the Ashes brings, it’s so hard to look past someone like that,” continued Stokes. Broad has 582 wickets in Test cricket, and the experience he provides alongside Jimmy Anderson is priceless to an attacking and belligerent batting unit which requires dependency when in the field.
Broad also backed the picking of Ollie Robinson, who has been impressive since his debut for the national team. “It’s so hard to look past Jimmy and Robbo as well, he’s been incredible over the last year in all conditions. I’m very happy with the team we’ve ended up picking.” England go in with a balanced team, with Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Moeen Ali all providing cover with ball in hand beyond the runs they promise throughout the middle order.
In response to Stokes’s comments regarding the targeting of Warner, Australian captain Pat Cummins came out in defence of his opening batter, publicly announcing his confidence in the dangerous and reliable Warner. “I'm sure he's thought about it a lot over the last couple of years hoping to get another crack at it. Davey will have all his plans in place. I'm sure you'll see a bit more of an aggressive Davey than what you saw in 2019 and he's itching to get out there and have another chance at it,” said Cummins.
The Broad-Warner battle in the beginning of the Australian batting innings is sure to be a fascinating subplot to the Ashes as a whole over the next two months, with a lot depending on what kind of platform Warner can provide to a batting order which in Marnus Labuschagne Labuschagne, Steve Smith, and Travis Head has the three highest ranked Test batters at the moment.
