Ben Stokes unhappy with criticism from ‘has-beens’

Test Match Special

BBC

Cricket, Sports News, News, Sports

4.4 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

England captain Ben Stokes has been speaking to the TMS pod ahead of his side’s three-day game against an England Lions team on Thursday in Perth.

He tells chief cricket reporter Stephan Shemilt how England will go "balls to the wall" in the match tomorrow after "has-beens" questioned their limited preparation in Australia.

Steph is also joined by cricket journalist Rory Dollard and the pair discuss Josh Hazlewood being cleared to join Australia's squad for the first Test and captain Pat Cummins being out.

The BBC will be providing 24/7 coverage of The Ashes, with full audio commentary on Test Match Special and 5 Live Breakfast at the Ashes, a live text service, a full highlights programme and the TMS Daily Ashes digest on iPlayer.

Plus, the daily TMS podcast, extensive coverage across social media and a visualised Tailenders at the end of every Test.

Transcript

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0:42.6	You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.
0:53.4	Hello, I'm Stefan Shemmelt and this is the Test Match special podcast in Perth as England step up their preparations for the first Ashes test.
0:58.0	We are a day away from England's only warm-up match, a three-day against the England Lions,
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1:07.0	We'll hear from England captain Ben Stokes
	...

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