Stokes confident Tests and T20s can co-exist as Ashes fever builds

England captain Ben Stokes insisted he had no fears for the future of Test cricket as he prepares to lead his side in an Ashes series against arch-rivals Australia.

England will kickstart the summer with a four-day one-off Test against Ireland before taking on Australia in the first of the five games starting June 16 at Edgbaston in Birmingham. 

There have long been concerns about franchise Twenty20 cricket crowding out the traditional long-format game, except for marquee series such as the five-match Ashes campaign that begins next month.

These worries intensified when Ireland left rising star Josh Little out of their squad for this week's encounter. The fast bowler was rested after a successful Indian Premier League spell with runners-up Gujarat Titans and ahead of a 50-over World Cup qualification tournament in Zimbabwe.

Cricket Ireland's high-performance director Richard Holdsworth said the Lord's Test was not a "pinnacle event" for his side this season.

Stokes, a World Cup winner with England in both 50-over and T20 cricket as well as a mainstay of the Test side, was sympathetic. "I've always been a huge advocate of the Test format. The whole landscape and the whole game of cricket is literally just changing in front of everyone's eyes so quickly," he told the reporters. 

"Look at what T20 has done for the game in general, the amount of attraction it's brought, new fans, new players. It has brought into playing cricket regardless of the format and also what T20 has been able to bring in terms of Test cricket. So, I don't see a world where T20 and Tests aren't being played in the future."

"I don't know what this build-up period before the Ashes is like compared to 2005 when England won a classic series, no idea, but it's very hard to ignore and not be able to see the excitement," he added. 

After a challenging phase in the longest format under Joe Root, England appointed Brendon McCullum as the Head Coach and Stokes as the captain. 

The duo rejigged England's style of play in red-ball format and adopted an aggressive approach that has reaped massive dividends as they won 10 out of their 12 Test matches.

A pillar of the new regime has been to avoid placing limits on what is possible, with England turning conventional Test thinking on its head by scoring a staggering 506-4 in December on the opening day in Rawalpindi during a 3-0 series win in Pakistan.

Asked if a 500-run day in the Ashes, against a proven Australia attack, was possible, Stokes replied: "Be alright, wouldn't it? Anything is possible, I think, if you have the backing to go out and do it."

He added: "I think what we have seen over the last year is that the same players who have been playing for a while go a lot higher in terms of their potential and them understanding they might be better than they thought they were. I think that is totally down to the mindset switch."

(With inputs from AFP)