{"id":140909,"date":"2025-11-19T02:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T02:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/140909\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T02:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T02:38:08","slug":"england-will-win-ashes-comfortably-ex-batter-feels-australia-no-match-in-upcoming-series-if","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/140909\/","title":{"rendered":"England will win Ashes \u2018comfortably\u2019: Ex-batter feels Australia no match in upcoming series if\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former England batter Mark Ramprakash has dialled up the Ashes hype, insisting Ben Stokes\u2019 team will beat Australia \u201cquite comfortably\u201d this winter – but only if their captain is fit enough to play a full part in the series.<\/p>\n

\"Ben Ben Stokes for England.(AP) <\/p>\n

His claim comes as England continue preparations for the 2025-26 Ashes in Australia, a tour where they are desperate to end a 14-year wait for a series win away from home.<\/p>\n

Quite comfortably, but…<\/p>\n

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live on their Ashes preview show, Ramprakash said, \u201cHe (Ben Stokes) seems to really connect with his team-mates. He knows how difficult it is to be an international cricketer. He gives them his full backing and great empathy to understand the ups and downs\u201d.<\/p>\n

For Ramprakash, that empathy and trust translate directly into results in high-pressure situations. Stokes\u2019 on-field presence, game awareness, and willingness to back his bowlers are, in his view, non-negotiable ingredients if England are to upset Australia in their own conditions.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what makes the captain\u2019s fitness the central subplot heading into the series. Ben Stokes<\/a> has been managing a shoulder problem and missed England\u2019s last Test of the home summer against India. Before that, he skipped a Test in Pakistan with a hamstring injury, only for the same issue to flare up again on the subsequent tour of New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Ramprakash warned that Stokes\u2019 absence in the middle would leave a glaring hole, tactically and emotionally. \u201cIf he is not in the middle to make those decisions, to know when to back his bowlers, when to attack, that is a massive vacuum. If Ben Stokes plays these five Tests, then I think England win and win quite comfortably,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The series, which begins in Perth, offers England a chance to end their long wait for an Ashes triumph in Australia – their last away series win came in 2010-11. Under Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, they have embraced an ultra-positive style that several former players believe can unsettle the Australian core.<\/p>\n

But Ramprakash\u2019s message cuts through the noise: whatever England\u2019s plans with the ball, whatever tweaks they make to their batting order or tactics, their hopes of winning and winning \u201cquite comfortably\u201d – hinge on one thing. Ben Stokes has to be out there, fully fit, making the calls for all five Ashes Tests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former England batter Mark Ramprakash has dialled up the Ashes hype, insisting Ben Stokes\u2019 team will beat Australia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[87108,87110,87109,2872,85,46,87111,105],"class_list":["post-140909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ashes","tag-australia-series-win","tag-ben-stokes","tag-england-cricket","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-mark-ramprakash","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}