beens' after criticism of England's Ashes preparations

Criticism of England's truncated preparation for this summer's Ashes series appears to have irked touring captain Ben Stokes.

The England team gathered for a training session in Perth on Wednesday, a day after the full contingent landed in Australia, less than two weeks before the first Test.

Stokes's side will play a three-day match against an England Lions XI, starting on Thursday, after playing six limited-overs matches in New Zealand last month.

Some former players, including England legend Ian Botham, have questioned the lack of warm-up matches for the tourists ahead of the five-Test series.

But Stokes said the team's options were limited.

"We've been preparing for this tour not [just] over the last three weeks; we've been putting a lot of thought and process into this for the last few years now," he told reporters.

"I don't know what else we're expected to be able to do. There's [Sheffield] Shield cricket going on at the moment, so who would we play against?

"So there's quite a few factors that play into the whole of why we can't [prepare] how the has-beens have maybe prepared in the past."

Stokes said the schedule was "jam-packed" in a way that previous generations may not have experienced.

"Come the 21st of this month, we know that we would have done everything possible that we could have done," he said.

England will face the Prime Minister's XI over two days in Canberra during the scheduled nine-day gap between the first Test in Perth and the second in Brisbane.

Brendon McCullum's team of so-called Bazballers will be trying to become the first England men's team to win a Test on Australian soil since the dominant 3–1 series victory in 2010/11.

Stokes and fellow veteran Joe Root have never won a Test down under, as Australia has won 5–0, 4–0 and 4–0 the past three times England travelled for the Ashes.

Aside from the team's fortunes, Root is also eager to shrug off his underwhelming record in Australia, having not scored a century in 14 Tests.

It is the only country where he has failed to reach triple figures after playing more than three Tests and his 35.68 average is his worst anywhere in the world aside from a two-Test tour of Bangladesh in 2016.

"He's the greatest English batter that the nation's seen," Stokes said.

"He's been in phenomenal form over the last two or three years.

"He's not come out here to score a 100 in Australia, he's come out here to contribute to the team."

Stokes, who scored England's only century after making his debut during Mitchell Johnson's fearsome 2013/14 series, has urged his team not to be daunted by playing in Australia.

"Coming to Australia for the Ashes is a lot different than anything else when you're playing," he said.

"There's a lot more that goes on away from the cricket itself.

"It's just making everyone aware that's the case but making sure it's nothing to be afraid of, nothing to be scared of, and don't shy away from it."

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