{"id":260022,"date":"2025-11-13T07:25:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T07:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/260022\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T07:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T07:25:10","slug":"the-ashes-ben-stokes-takes-two-early-wickets-as-england-start-sole-warm-up-match-against-lions-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/260022\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ashes: Ben Stokes takes two early wickets as England start sole warm-up match against Lions | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"

England captain Ben Stokes took both wickets in the first session of his side’s
\nin-house Ashes warm-up against the Lions at Lilac Hill, including Test hopeful Jacob Bethell.<\/p>\n

Stokes, playing for the first time since tearing a shoulder muscle against India in July, looked match sharp in his comeback appearance as Andrew Flintoff’s Lions side reached 116-2 at lunch in Perth.<\/p>\n

Stokes had Tom Haines caught at mid-on in the first of his six-over spell and then removed Bethell, who saw his hopes of ousting Ollie Pope from the series opener fade with an unconvincing knock of two from 17 balls.<\/p>\n

His innings ended when he mistimed a short ball to square-leg and, with a lean white-ball tour of New Zealand behind him, looks likely to resume his status as batting reserve.<\/p>\n

Durham opener Ben McKinney took the fight to England, batting through the opening session for 67 not out on a gently paced surface.<\/p>\n

In an apparent nod towards their intentions for the series opener at Optus Stadium on November 21, England named an all-pace attack comprising Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Josh Tongue and Stokes as an all-rounder.<\/p>\n

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

\"England<\/p>\n

Stokes sent a message to the less experienced members of his side that The Ashes is ‘different’ but ‘nothing to be afraid of’<\/p>\n

Brydon Carse sat out due to illness, but may enter the three-day match at a later stage to get some time in the middle.<\/p>\n

Jofra Archer was the tidiest of the bowlers on display, offering up just 17 from his six overs, while Wood worked up some decent speed in his four-over burst, having been out of action for the past nine months.<\/p>\n

Spinner Shoaib Bashir was one of five senior players loaned to the Lions and will get a chance to stake his claim in the second innings.<\/p>\n

Play resumed after lunch.<\/p>\n

More to follow…<\/p>\n

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\"Ben<\/p>\n

Stokes said England did everything possible to be ready for the first Ashes Test against Australia from November 21 after criticism of the tourists’ preparations<\/p>\n

Ashes series in Australia 2025-26<\/p>\n

All times UK and Ireland<\/p>\n

First Test: Friday November 21 – Tuesday November 25 (2.30am) – Optus Stadium, PerthSecond Test (day\/night): Thursday December 4 – Monday December 8 (4.30am) – The Gabba, BrisbaneThird Test: Wednesday December 17 – Sunday December 21 (12am) – Adelaide OvalFourth Test: Thursday December 25 – Monday December 29 (11.30pm) – Melbourne Cricket GroundFifth Test: Sunday January 4 – Thursday January 8 (11.30pm) – Sydney Cricket Ground<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England captain Ben Stokes took both wickets in the first session of his side’s in-house Ashes warm-up against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-260022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}