The first Test of the Ashes 2023 between England and Australia got underway at Edgbaston on June 16, Friday as two captains, Ben Stokes and Pat Cummins squared off to add the latest chapter to the historic rivalry between the two nations.
Stokes in his pre-match press conference decided to play some mind games with Australia as he gave away a warning to David Warner, revealing that he made a change to his side, looking to keep Warner at bay.
Stokes gave Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin his due, who holds a stellar record against the England Test captain, and he cited the same about England pacer Stuart Broad, who has troubled Warner historically.
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In the lead-up to the match, England had revealed their playing XI, bringing in Moeen Ali straight and Stokes also decided to leave out Mark Wood to stick with Broad, revealing that his decision was made keeping an eye on Warner.
In the 2019 series, Broad troubled Warner a lot, and Stokes was looking to repeat the same trick.
“It’s just one of those things – like Ashwin against me. Broady has been an unbelievable performer over many years,” said Ben.
In 2019, the England pacer got the better of Warner on 7 occasions in a total of 10 innings. Stokes admitted that he himself doesn’t enjoy a good record against Ashwin, the Indian off-spinner has gotten the better of the England captain on 10 occasions in international cricket.
Australian captain Cummins was subsequently quizzed about Stokes’ comments and the former said that Warner wouldn’t be bothered too much by what happened four years ago.
“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 the Aussie captain.
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