England captain Ben Stokes has named Joe Root and Steve Smith as the two best batters of this generation, notably excluding India’s Virat Kohli from the discussion. Stokes, who will lead England in the upcoming Ashes series, has played alongside Root for many years and faced Smith numerous times. Stokes emphasized the importance of containing Smith in the Ashes series, adding that the Australian batter knows how to dominate, particularly at home. Smith boasts an exceptional record against England in Test cricket, having scored 12 centuries against the Three Lions to date.

“Not too much has changed because he just gets runs against us, doesn’t he? That seems to be a constant  a serious player, has been for a very long time,” Stokes said on the eve of the Ashes opener. “Him and Joe Root, neck-and-neck in my opinion in terms of the greatest batters of this generation,” he added.

Ashes 

Looking ahead to the series Stokes acknowledged the tactical challenge facing England but expressed confidence in his team. He stated that if England can manage to keep Australia’s top batters quiet, they stand a strong chance of achieving remarkable results.

“You always want to come up with ways to try and keep the best players quiet. And that’s something that obviously we’re going to have to do. It’ll be a hard thing to be able to do,” Stokes explained. “But if we can keep Steve Smith, minus all the other guys in the batting order, quiet, then we’ve given ourselves a good chance to achieve in the goal that we want,” he added.

Australia’s Playing XI for 1st Test: Usman Khawaja, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Brendan Doggett, Scott Boland.

England’s 12-Member Squad for 1st Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir.