EXCLUSIVE
Ben Stokes hits back as Steve Harmison launches furious rant about England’s preparations for India tour – ‘It absolutely stinks’
Ben Stokes responded to Steve Harmison’s furious rant about the England Test team’s apparent short preparation time for the upcoming India series.
Harmsion ranted about how England were arriving for the five Test series just three days before it started - saying they deserve to get thrashed if that is the case.
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“If England go in three days before, they deserve to get beat 5-0. They really do!” Harmison told talkSPORT’s .
“I’m an old man and that’s what they’re going to say ‘times have changed’. But preparation hasn’t changed. You cannot go into India overprepared, you could be in India for six weeks and still not be prepared for that first Test and what the emotion of that cauldron.
“You talk about [Kevin] Pietersen, [Andrew] Strauss, and [Alastair] Cook - this great side that won there in 2012 - what would they think if you’d have told them we were going in three days before?
“They’d have laughed at you.
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“I love the new approach with Ben Stokes, Brendan McCullum, and Rob Key and everything the ECB has done.
“But I’m sorry, you’d never go to an Ashes series three days before. You’d never go to Australia three days before the Gabba. Why go three days before Hydrebad? For me, it stinks.
“It’s not the new world, it’s player power. They are backing down to the players.
“We’ve got 29 contracted players and have a system that is hanging by a thread for me at this moment in time because we are frightened they will go off and do something else.
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“Let them go off and do something else. We’ve got five Test matches in India, you’ve got to prepare in the right way with overs under your belt, balls faced and acclimatising.
“It’s a different air and a different surface you’ve going to play on, for me it absolutely stinks.”
That rant caught the attention of captain Stokes, who hit back at his fellow Durham legend and seemingly clarified their preparation plans.
He wrote on X: “Good job we’re going to Abu Dhabi for a training camp before we go to India for even more training before that 1st Test then isn’t it.”
England's five Test series with India will be live and exclusive on talkSPORT 2.
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