Carse Praises Stokes for Leading England’s Remarkable Comeback in Perth

England staged a remarkable comeback on the first day of the Perth test. The star of their fightback was none other than Ben Stokes, who took 5 wickets in the first innings to put Australia on the ropes. The batting performance of England was pathetic. However, their response in bowling covered all the bases.

The charismatic leadership of Ben Stokes was on full display during the first day of the Perth test. He bowled with high intensity to choke the Australian batting lineup that was looking confident to get a lead in the first innings. The fightback shown by Stokes and other bowlers disrupted all their plans, as they are now down with 9 wickets at the end of the first day.

Praising the performance of Stokes on the first day, Brydon Carse said that the English captain kept the intensity high throughout the day. He also described the atmosphere of the ground, saying that the energy of the fans was electric on the opening day of the Perth test.

"Stokesy came up with that idea last night. It was obviously what we decided to do. And luckily, we came in at about 8:30am, because I think if we were about half an hour later, we might have gotten a bit more stick from some of the Aussie fans. It was electric … the energy throughout the day was awesome," said English fast bowler Brydon Carse.

He further said that Stokes asked the team to keep things simple in bowling. He asked the bowling group to keep attacking the Aussie batters for a long period of time. This messaging eventually worked well for the team, as they dominated the last session by taking regular wickets.

"Stokesy kept it really simple. We had 45-50 minutes before tea, and he said to the lads with the ball, just give everything. The way Gus Atkinson and Jofra [Archer] started was phenomenal. And then after tea, that messaging was pretty similar, just do it over a longer period of time,” said Brydon Carse.

He also described the bowling plan England utilised during the last two sessions. The English bowlers tried to hit the hard lengths, as the pitch was offering good bounce and seam off the surface.

"While the ball was still new, there was a lot of pace and bounce in it. And, we said as a group of bowlers, it was just about hitting the wicket as hard as we could," said Brydon Carse.

Applauding the Variety of the English Pace Attack

Speaking about the pace strength of England for the Ashes series, Carse said that the team has 6-7 seamers with different skills and attributes. This is the key reason why the attack of England is quite versatile, capable of troubling the batters on any surface.

"I haven't played in a lot of attacks where we've had five seamers, but everyone does complement each other. I've said before that the group is six, seven seamers, and we've all got different attributes. Hopefully that stands us in good stead throughout the series," said Brydon Carse.

The English pace bowler then described the key attributes of Stokes that make him a special leader. He said that Stokes plays with high intensity, and his enthusiasm for the game is remarkable.

"His character and enthusiasm around the group, and the way it goes about his business is phenomenal. Everyone looks up to him. He's a great leader to have in our team,” said Brydon Carse.

"He's been out here for the last two-and-a-half weeks, and as Ducky [Ben Duckett] said a couple of weeks ago, he's in beast mode at the moment. Hopefully, that pays off throughout the series for him," added Brydon Carse.

Looking at the heroics of Ben Stokes on the opening day of the Perth test, it is quite clear that he has started the Ashes series on a high note. He will therefore try to maintain this heat throughout the series. However, the comeback of the Aussies can disrupt his plans.