Former Australia pace spearhead, Mitchell Johnson, has said that England has the capability to win the Ashes without the presence of Ben Stokes. However, he has sounded of a word of caution to the Australian team and said that they must not take the visitors lightly if Stokes doesnt travel with the team.
"I dont think you can read too much into what people are commenting on no Stokes, no England. I think England can win without him. I think at a contest at that high level, anyone can win.", Johnson said while talking to the BBC.
"If youre Australia, you dont want to be thinking they cant win because Stokes isnt there - that can bite you in the backside pretty quickly. Im still confident that Australia can win the series, but the performances recently havent been great from both sides," he said an added, "The wickets are a little bouncier and faster, so some of these new guys might find it harder, and that's where the Australian bowling attack is strong."
Earlier, Johnson also revealed that he is passing on his knowledge to the current pace attack of Australia on how to trouble the batsman.
"Absolutely. Weve spoken about that a fair bit. Talking to those guys - Ryano, Mitch and Sidds - it was the roles they played," Hazlewood said at a sponsorship event for Asics. It wasnt just all about Mitch. He obviously got the rewards, but on any other day Ryano could have got the 30-odd wickets. Just to talk about how they went about it in that 2013-14 series - hopefully we can mirror that and keep the pressure building. Ryano has been around a bit - on the last tour as (Australian) bowling coach. You just run into guys here and there and talk to them on the phone as well. It's always good to talk to them.", he had said while talking to the Daily Telegraph.
