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    As prime minister

    Ashes: Cook urges Stokes & Co. to play against PM’s XI & ‘not just leave it to Lions’ after Perth de
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    Ashes: Cook Urges Stokes & Co. To Play Against PM’s XI & ‘not Just Leave It To Lions’ After Perth Debacle

    By IANS News November 23, 2025 • 12:10 PM View: 375
    New Delhi: Former England captain Alastair Cook has urged the Ben Stokes-led side to reconsider their decision not to play the pink-ball Test against the Prime Minister’s XI after the team’s loss in the Ashes opener on Saturday in Perth.

    The highly anticipated first Test of the Ashes series between arch-rivals Australia and England concluded in just two days as the hosts clinched an eight-wicket win to go one up. Ahead of the second Test in Brisbane’s Gabba, the England Lions will play a two-day pink-ball Test against the Prime Minister’s XI, and Cook, like several other pundits, opined that the senior men’s team shall play the game rather than the Lions.

    Writing in his Sunday Times column, Cook, who finished as England’s leading run-scorer in their last Ashes win in Australia in 2010-11, stated, “In this situation, I would want to go and play in the pink-ball game against the Prime Minister's XI in Canberra, not just leave it to the Lions players. It can be an uncomfortable decision as you are opening yourself up to failing again, but putting yourself under pressure can have long-term benefits. However much you practise in the nets, you cannot replicate the feeling of time in the middle.”

    TAGS Former England Alastair Cook Ben Stokes Prime Minister England Lions Sunday Times
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