BEN STOKES HAILS ROBIN SMITH AS 'AN ABSOLUTE BELTER OF A BLOKE' AS HE PAYS TRIBUTE TO ENGLAND LEGEND
Ben Stokes says the death of England legend Robin Smith has hit the team hard, especially after Smith’s involvement with Andrew Flintoff’s Lions team in Perth last week.
Smith, who died on Monday at the age of 62, had addressed England’s second-string side after their game against a Cricket Australia XI at Lilac Hill near his home in the south of the city, and had also attended the first Test at Perth Stadium.
‘It’s a very sad day,’ said Stokes. ‘I didn't know him overly well, but I knew quite a lot of people who did and played a lot of cricket with him, and the same thing kept coming up, which was that he was an absolute belter of a bloke. It’s always a sad time when you hear news like that.
‘Just last week he was there chatting with the Lions, and he was at the Test match, talking to people and going into quite a lot of detail about his life and opening up. It hits you a bit harder when you realise it was only a week ago he was doing those things.’
England are due to wear black armbands during the second Test at Brisbane, which starts at 4am GMT on Thursday at the Gabba.
Meanwhile, Stokes insisted that Shoaib Bashir remains England’s No 1 spinner, despite the selection of Will Jacks ahead of him for only the third Test of his career.
‘We tried to look at how we thought spin was going to be used and there was a bit of a tactical element to it.
'Obviously Jacksy’s ability with the bat, to have that down the order for us is useful as well. Bash knows if it was down to picking our best spinner, he’d have played.
‘Jacksy has turned himself into a cricketer I always thought he could be. He’s incredibly talented, and he’s gone from strength to strength since he came into the squad for that Pakistan tour three years ago.
'He’s been playing so well in the nets and the time he’s been out here training. It’s great for us that we’ve got someone who’s looking in pretty good order coming into a big Test match.’
Bashir, as well as Jacob Bethell, will instead play for England Lions in their four-day first-class game against Australia A at Brisbane’s Allan Border Field starting on Friday.
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