England captain Ben Stokes won’t fuel Ashes fire vs Australia

There won’t be any pre-Ashes barbs from England too far out from next year’s showdown against Australia, with captain Ben Stokes declaring he “spoke a little too much” before the teams last met and lost focus on what was in front of him.

England will play the final Test of 2024 against New Zealand in Hamilton with Australia almost within touching distance, making it hard not to think about the clash between the two old enemies next summer.

But with so much important cricket for England, rebuilding the Test side after the retirements of stalwart fast bowlers Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson, Stokes said he had to keep his focus in the present.

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The England outfit that tours Australia will look markedly different from the one which drew 2-2 in 2023, a series which included a spicy confrontation between Australian players and the crowd at Lord’s.

There will be no Broad or Anderson, with the team also having moved on from the likes of spinner Jack Leach and batter Jonny Bairstow.

Stokes had put the Ashes at the forefront of his mind when talking about the rebuilding, with England looking to regain the urn in Australia.

But now he doesn’t want to fuel the inevitable hype too early, with his team set to face India next.

“Every Englishman and Australian knows the Ashes is a big series for both teams, but I think toning down on the expectations on that series is something I will be better at in the build-up,” he said.

“You do always have one eye on that, but we have six more Tests before that so we have to focus on those games.

“Through my own fault, I maybe spoke a little too much about the Ashes and putting too much emphasis on that series considering how much cricket we had to play before that.

“That’s so far away from what my leadership had been about – staying present, staying where we are and then worrying about stuff when we have to worry about. That was a mistake from myself. I don’t know where it really came from … there’s learning curves as a leader, I guess.

“It is quite tough when you’ve got an Ashes coming around the corner. I’ve been involved in quite a few of those now and you do sort of look at the calendar and think ‘oh it’s nearly here’.

“That’s hard to avoid but I think I’ll just make sure I keep my focus on being in the here and now and what we’ve got coming up.”

England have won both of the opening two Tests in New Zealand ahead of the final game with their new-look team.