Ben Stokes incident a touchy one, says Australia coach Darren Lehmann
Darren Lehmann is concentrating on the first Test at Brisbane on November 23. (Source: Reuters) Darren Lehmann is concentrating on the first Test at Brisbane on November 23. (Source: Reuters)
Australia coach Darren Lehmann feels that recent Ben Stokes incident footage, which showed the England all-rounder punching a guy in Bristol, is a touchy issue for him. The reason being a similar incident which happened with Lehmann’s friend and mentor David Hookes, 13 years back, who died after being beaten up by a hotel bouncer. Hookes had suffered a cardiac arrest, following the incident.
“It’s happening all around the world, to be fair. Not just one incident. We’ve got to be careful with what we do outside, anywhere. It’s a touchy one for me. I can’t say much obviously, it’s with the ECB and I don’t know the whole story, no one does I don’t think. Really, it’s left with them and we’ll see what they do, but we can’t control what they do with Ben or any of their players,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
He added: “What we’ve got to worry about is getting our best XI to play really good cricket. At the end of the day, I have my personal views but at the moment, until I get the whole story, I’m not going to share them.”
Hookes incident was also remembered by the current coach of South Australia, Darren Berry, who was present during the brawl. He considers it as ‘horrific memories’.
On being asked about Australian public’s behaviour towards Stokes, if he manages to come for the tour, Lehmann said, “You’d have to ask the 25 million people in Australia. Me as the coach, I’ll probably stay away from that one as well. I think it will be interesting. We’ll only know if he comes and if he plays.”
England last won the Ashes series in 2015, with a 3-2 series victory against Australia at home. However, Lehmann is not concentrating on the past results ahead of the first Test at Brisbane on November 23.
“They’re obviously improved players, everyone is talking about four years ago or two years ago in England. We can’t worry about that. They’ve played some good cricket. They’re probably a bit like us, inconsistent at times. It’s going to be the team that withstands the pressure early on in the series [that has the edge]. Their younger guys will be under pressure, there’s no doubt about that, but same as our guys.”, Lehmann concluded.
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