Australian media brands Ben Stokes ‘Cocky Captain Complainer’ ahead of Ashes
The headline, referencing the controversial Jonny Bairstow stumping incident from the 2023 series, quickly gained attention across both sides of the cricketing divide. The newspaper’s article launched into a full-throttle critique of Stokes and England’s aggressive ‘Bazball’ style under head coach Brendon McCullum, describing it as a “crazed brand of carefree and careless thrash batting – untested in Australia.”
One particularly pointed line read: “Kiwi-born Ben Stokes, the King of England’s self-proclaimed re-invention of cricket dubbed ‘Baz Ball’, has sauntered into Perth confident the crazed brand of carefree and careless thrash batting – untested in Australia – will reclaim the Ashes.”
The media’s mocking tone also harkened back to the heated “crease-gate” debate, when Jonny Bairstow was controversially stumped by Alex Carey at Lord’s in 2023. Following that incident, Stokes had said:
“I am not disputing the fact it is out because it is out. If the shoe was on the other foot, I would have put more pressure on the umpires and asked whether they had called over and had a deep think about the whole spirit of the game and whether I would want to do something like that. For Australia, it was the match-winning moment. Would I want to win a game in that manner? The answer is no.”
In response, Australian media photoshopped Stokes as a baby in a nappy sucking a dummy — an image that resurfaced again this week. Stokes fired back at the time, tweeting: “That’s definitely not me, since when did I bowl with the new ball.”
Atherton: “It’s knockabout stuff… par for the course”
Former England captain and Sky Sports pundit Michael Atherton praised the tabloid fodder with a dose of dry humour: “That was a stone-cold classic of a headline from the Western Australian.”
“I love the fact that it started with ‘New Zealand-born Ben Stokes’ and all the classic attack lines were in that piece. It’s knockabout stuff. Every England team or captain gets it when you get over there, but there is something about Bazball that seems to get under the Australian skin.”
Atherton pointed to the long tradition of pre-Ashes sledging in the media, recalling the Brisbane Courier Mail’s refusal to name Stuart Broad in 2013, instead referring to him as a “smug pommie cheat.”
“So it’s all par for the course and good fun. England will just have to prove themselves.”
He also emphasised the mental toughness required to thrive in Australia: “To do well in Australia, you have to have cricketers of a certain character because it is a tough tour for all kinds of reasons. The cricket is tough but so is everything that goes around it. It’s a very high-profile, intense series, and you need cricketers who are going to stand up and are full of character.”
“Stokes is obviously one of those we’ve seen that throughout his career, Broad was the same cricketer who did well down there. From memory, the last time Stokes was in Australia, the Western Australia had one of him in nappies spitting a dummy out at one stage. It’s all a bit of good fun and par for the course, and it’s not something that will unduly worry any of the travelling England cricketers. They’ll know and be expecting it. It will also boil down to what happens on the pitch ultimately.”
Merv Hughes and VB cans: Cricket rules and cold beer
Adding more fuel to the fire, former Aussie paceman Merv Hughes took a jab of his own, referencing the Bairstow dismissal: “Understand the simple rules of cricket… Just stay in your crease. If you stay in your crease, you don’t get run out. If you don’t get run out, you don’t whinge. If you don’t whinge, you can go next door and have a beer with the opposition. It’s not that hard.”
Hughes appeared on The Grade Cricketer podcast holding a cricket rule book branded by Australian beer company Victoria Bitter – part of a marketing stunt that features the laws of cricket printed on VB cans this summer.
“After the last series against England, the laws of cricket got a little bit confusing from England,” Hughes quipped.
“So we’ve got the laws of cricket on the cans of cricket. So basically a run out. If you stay in your crease, you’re in. If you’re out, you’re out. It’s not that hard.”
He added more tongue-in-cheek references, poking fun at perceived English fragility: “There’s a frivolous time delay. There’s faking injury… ‘cause we know a lot of the English bowlers, when they have their tea at tea-time, they strain their pinky finger. That is not an acceptable injury is it… So you’ve got to read the laws of the game and take it into the Ashes.”
Stokes was the latest England player to arrive in Australia, ahead of their lone warm-up match against the England Lions at Lilac Hill next week. The first Test begins November 21 at Perth. The Ashes, as ever, is not just about bat and ball — it’s theatre, legacy, and psychological warfare. And with the verbal volleys already flying and Australia’s media machine in full spin, Ben Stokes’ England will be expected to answer in the only place that matters — on the field. - Agencies