Ben Stokes has shown an unwillingness to heed the advice of England cricket legends of years gone by after the team’s captain enjoyed a round of golf with his teammates just days before the first Ashes Test.
Stokes, top-order batter Ollie Pope, fast bowler Matthew Potts and many others were pictured playing at the Araluen Estate course ahead of the Perth game
The picturesque 18-hole course at a country club 45km south-east of the Perth CBD, is also used to host weddings and private functions.
Other squad members have been captured on the prized links, with former all-rounder star Andrew Flintoff joining them.
Araluen Estate fetches fees worth a small fortune, with full golf memberships costing upwards of $3000 per year.
It comes as England’s preparation for the much-anticipated series has come under immense scrutiny from heroes of yesteryear.
England captain Ben Stokes (pictured) was one of the England squad members to play golf at the prestigious Araluen Estate course just before the first Ashes Test
Stokes (pictured left next to top-order batter Ollie Pope and back-up batter Jordan Cox, right) all played a round of golf together at one of Australia’s most picturesque courses
The Araluen Estate course (pictured) is among the most sought-after locations for golf tragics
Stokes was forced to respond last week after former skippers Michael Vaughan and Ian Botham hammered his team’s decision to only take part in one three-day warm-up match against a second-string English side.
‘There’s quite a few factors that play into why we can’t prepare how the ‘has-beens’ maybe prepared in the past,’ Stokes said last week.
‘But we are very confident and very comfortable with how we prepare, because we leave no stone unturned.’
It’s not the first time former captain Vaughan criticised the side’s preparation for an Ashes series.
In 2023, he hammered England after they were beaten in the first Test of that series, criticising their very laidback approach, which saw the stars play golf at a luxurious course in Buckinghamshire.
‘England opted to practice for the Ashes by playing golf for a week. I’d have loved to have seen them play at least two days of cricket leading into a big Ashes series,’ Vaughan said.
The current England team hopes the relaxed preparation will provide exactly what they need to finally win again in Australia, having not won an Ashes match here since early 2011.
England has also failed to win an Ashes series since 2015, with only three players from that winning squad making the trip Down Under this time around.
A large group of England squad members and past greats (pictured) dusted off their clubs at the stunning course south-west of Perth
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan (pictured) has been one of the current England side’s biggest critics. He previously blasted the team for playing too much golf
Joe Root (pictured) is the second-highest Test run-scorer – but has never notched a century in a Test match played in Australia
Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Mark Wood, the three players who were part of the winning squad in 2015, may also see this as their final chance to win the urn in Australia.
The first Test at Perth Stadium gets underway on Friday.
England is set to enter new territory, having never played a Test match at the ground.
There has been a lot of speculation about the pitch for the clash, with Vaughan airing his conspiracy theory that it will be doctored in response to the withdrawal through injury of Aussie pace spearheads Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.
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England stars risk the wrath of legends Michael Vaughan and Ian Botham after playing golf just TWO days before first Ashes Test after Ben Stokes hit out at criticism of tour preparation
