Aussie paper Stokes the Ashes fire with barb at 'Bazball'

England's Cocky Captain Complainer, still smarting from 'crease-gate' lands in Perth early thinking dopey 'Bazball' can take the Ashes

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THE AUSTRALIAN media gave England captain Ben Stokes a scathing welcome to the country ahead of the Ashes.

A picture of Stokes pushing a trolley laden with luggage at the airport was accompanied by the headline ‘Baz Baw!’ on the front page of the West Australian newspaper.

“England's Cocky Captain Complainer, still smarting from ‘crease-gate’ lands in Perth early thinking dopey ‘BazBall’ can take the Ashes,” read the subhead in reference to an incident in the last series when Jonny Bairstow was controversially stumped.

The article went on to criticise England's tactics under Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, dubbing it “carefree and careless thrash batting”.