Talks about England producing ‘fast’ wickets for Ashes nothing but smokescreen: Starc

Australia’s talisman quick Mitchell Starc has questioned Ben Stokes’ claim that England will prepare ‘fast and flat’ wickets for the Ashes, and believes talks about the hosts wanting to prepare ‘fair’ wickets are nothing but a smokescreen.

In an interview with Nasser Hussain for Sky last month, Stokes revealed that he’s made it clear to the ground staff that he and his team want ‘fast, flat wickets’ for the Ashes.

"We've been very clear, especially with the ground staff around England, about what type of wickets we want," Stokes said. 

"And they've been very responsive to us which has been good.

"We want fast, flat wickets. We want to go out there and score quickly. It brings their [Australia's] guys in: if they've got fast wickets to bowl on then they'll be happy with that as well."

Starc, though, does not believe the tourists will be provided with any pacy wickets in a months’ time.

“Have you ever seen a fast wicket in England? I don’t know if they can [make them fast],” Stokes said, reported smh.com.au.

“They can certainly make them flat. I think it’s a bit of a smokescreen. There’s always a bit of chat around the Ashes.”

Starc credited England for sustaining Bazball for nearly an entire year, but insisted that his side are not buying into the chatter that the Three Lions will live and die by the sword.

The 33-year-old further attested that even if the English batters score at a quicker pace than the Aussies, his teammates are more than capable of out-scoring England overall.

“They’ve been able to maintain it for some time. Fair credit to them, it’s not just a one-off. It makes for an exciting Ashes contest. We’ll see if that’s the way they’re going to play, how it goes. From the guys I’ve spoken to this week, we’re not really buying too much into it.

“It’s still cricket and there are three stumps at either end. You still need to take 20 wickets to win a Test. They might score a bit quicker than we do, but there’s no reason our batting line-up can’t score the amount of runs they do.

“It’s going to be fascinating to be a part of. I think there’s a lot of people interested to see how it pans out. At the very least, it’s going to bring eyeballs to screens, and that’s what cricket wants and needs.”

The first Ashes Test will be played at Edgbaston from Friday, June 16.