England captain Ben Stokes baffled as Mark Wood pranks press convention
England captain Ben Stokes was left speechless as he tried to start his pre-match press convention however was compelled to cease due to team-mate Mark Wood. As the press officer started to state the order wherein questions could be requested forward of the fifth and remaining Ashes Test towards Australia, a well-known track was performed over the audio system.
After the discharge of the ‘Barbie’ movie, Wood felt the necessity to blast ‘Barbie Girl’ by Aqua out loud to loads of laughs from the room. When Stokes appeared perplexed as he shook his head, earlier than being requested to guess which of his team-mates was close by pulling the prank. He took a quick pause earlier than saying “…Woody?”
Stokes was capable of focus after Wood left and went on to verify that England will stay unchanged going into the ultimate check. “Everyone’s pulled up well,” stated the captain. “It’s been a troublesome 4 video games and I feel one little constructive we might perhaps take from the rain (at Old Trafford) is that the bowlers bought a bit extra relaxation.
“It’s a strange one to look at from that point of view. But with the quick turnaround and the game we have here, knowing what we need to do, you could see that as a tiny positive, although it’s very hard to say it’s a positive.”
When asked about Jimmy Anderson, who has struggled throughout this series amid questions over the 40-year-old’s future in the game, Stokes replied: “Although he’s not had the impact or the wickets he would have liked to in this series, he’s a quality bowler and quality performer.
“Jimmy’s come under a bit of flack for that but if Joe [Root] hadn’t scored the runs he would have liked, you wouldn’t be questioning him staying in the team as a batter. James Anderson is the greatest fast-bowler to play the game.”
After rain ruined England’s possibilities of levelling the sequence at Old Trafford, Stokes admitted that it was a “bizarre feeling” having didn’t get the chance to counter the Aussies. “I’ve never left a field, or a game feeling pretty emotionless. It was a bizarre feeling, the game petered out the way it did because of the weather,” he added.
“You look back and think ‘Do you wish we’d got beat’ or we had played and Australia pulled a draw off? We leave the ground when you can’t do anything, it’s a strange place to be. It makes you feel very odd. shaking hands at the end. You could feel it from both sides. Emotionless.
“Australia retained the Ashes and we couldn’t win it back but it was very bizarre. It’s two teams of professional athletes – they want to be out there doing what we do. It was a pretty flat feeling but we’ve got rid of those emotions and we’re ready for this week.”