‘Australia is the best country…,’ Stokes on enjoying life Down Under amid crushing Ashes start

Defiant England captain Ben Stokes says he will not allow intense media attention to stop him enjoying Australia, calling it preferable to being back home where it is "miserable, freezing cold and dark" at this time of year. The team's every move is being scrutinised on the five-Test Ashes tour, with players followed through the airport, on golf courses and on a trip to an aquarium. Stokes and other players were snapped this week riding electric scooters around Brisbane without helmets, prompting a front-page "Pommy Idiots" headline from the city's Courier-Mail newspaper on Thursday. Not wearing a helmet is punishable by a fine under Queensland state law, with police saying they had "engaged with those persons to inform and educate them on compliance requirements".

Stokes said being under the microscope was part and parcel of being on tour in Australia, and he was not letting it get to him.

"If they (the media) think it is going to stop us enjoying this country when we have time off, then it is not going to do that," he told the BBC. “Australia is the best country to tour away from cricket. There are so many things to do. You can go out and about and see things that only Australia has to offer, great golf courses, coffee shops and easy places to have lunch.”

He added that having down time was important for players to take the pressure off.

"We are human," he said. "We need to enjoy countries when we get the opportunity because we live in England, where it is miserable, freezing cold and dark at 4 pm."

England are preparing for the second Test in Brisbane, starting Thursday. They lost the series opener in Perth by eight wickets inside two days.

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