'They don't play enough...': England legend raises concern over Ben Stokes & Co's preparation for The Ashes

Legendary England cricketer Ian Botham isn't entirely satisfied with the current team's preparation for the crucial Ashes series against Australia that is set to commence from November 21. Ben Stokes & Co. will only be playing a three-day warm-upmatch against the England Lions before travelling to Perth for the Ashes opener.

Botham feels that the England team haven't played sufficient cricket ahead of their series against Australia and highlighted how big of a challenge the upcoming assignment can be for them.

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"I'm worried. We're going to wander in and have a little game with the 'A' team. Not one [state match] which borders on arrogance. You've got to give yourself the chance. They are saying we play too much cricket...I don't think you play enough," Botham said on the Old Boys, New Balls podcast.

"The conditions are different when you play cricket in Australia: the sun, the heat, the bounce, the crowd, the Aussie players, you've got to get used to all that. You're not playing against the Australian cricket team, you're playing against Australia - 24.5 million people," he added.

England bowlers' poor injury record

Botham is particiularly worried about the preparation of the bowlers and pointed out how the likes of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Mark Wood have horrific injury records. Notably, Stokes had gotten injured before the fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against India in July and had to sit out of the fifth and final encounter. On the other hand, Wood has been on the sidelines for quite a lot of months now and his last appearance in the longest format came in August, 2024.

The former all-rounder further warned England and remarked that if two or more of their main pacers sustain injuries during the first or second Test of the Australia series, then they will be in massive trouble.

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"Look at the record with injuries - [Mark] Wood, [Jofra] Archer, Ben Stokes, Brydon Carse...they don't play enough. You get fit by playing. If it goes horribly wrong, Mark Wood breaks down in the first game, or Jofra Archer does, or Ben can't bowl, we are suddenly chasing the eight-ball before we've started. It's a worry," Botham stated.

England's squad for The Ashes: Ben Stokes (captain), Harry Brook (vice-captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood.