Nathan Lyon optimistic about Ben Stokes coming to Australia for Ashes

Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon is optimistic about England all-rounder Ben Stokes playing a few Test matches in the Ashes series Down Under, which is set to begin on December 8. Stokes has not played a lot of cricket since May this year.

Advertisment

He was ruled out of the IPL after suffering a finger injury and later took an indefinite break from cricket citing to mental health issues. He only played few domestic games and a series against Pakistan between fracturing his finger and announcing his break from cricket. However, the talismanic all-rounder has recently started doing light practice.

Stokes was not named in the Ashes squad by the England Cricket Board (ECB), yet Lyon feels Stokes will play some matches of the Ashes series. “I’m expecting him to come,” Lyon said of Stokes on Thursday to Independent. “I hope he is. You want to play against the best players in the world.

Lyon further opined that Stokes is an X factor player for the team owing to his ability to win matches on his own. “Stokesy is the best all-rounder in the world. He’s an x-factor, a game-changer, and you want to play against these sort of players.”

The all-rounder is a match winner on his day and so many times have helped England pull off miraculous wins. In the last Ashes, Stokes won the Player of the Series after his heroic performance in Headingly where he scored an exhilarating knock of unbeaten 135 in the third Ashes Test. England were down out at one stage in a steep fourth innings run-chase of 359. Stokes though kept hitting the boundaries keeping England in the hunt. With England nine wickets down and a victory still fair way away, he turned on the beast mode and single handedly won the match for his team.