“We all love it. It’s an Ashes summer and it probably wouldn’t be the same without the best players. Hopefully,his health is good,we welcome him out here because he’s one of the superstars of the game.”

Stokes took 2-31 and made an unbeaten 42 (56 balls) during the practice match against the touring England Lions during the week,which represented his first semi-competitive match since July and his first time facing and delivering the red ball in almost 10 months.

He bowled with sharp pace in sweltering conditions at Ian Healy Oval and had the Lions batters taking evasive action from his short bowling on more than one occasion. But it was his energy in the field,one of the great intangibles of cricket,that was evident to the smattering of fans watching at the suburban ground in Brisbane’s inner-north.

Langer also said the Australians would be well prepared for the questions asked by England’s veteran pace duo of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad,who will again by at the vanguard of their seam attack in an Ashes campaign.

Broad made light of the limited preparation when he spoke during the week,saying he felt being fresh was preferable to having too many miles in the legs and overs in the bank ahead of a five-Test summer crammed into a tight and yet to be finalised schedule.

“They are great bowlers,great bowlers,no two ways about that,” Langer said. “We’ll show them respect. They’ve also got some other good bowlers coming through as well – I think[Ollie] Robinson looks a real handful. They have some talent. We respect that but we’ll be ready for it.”

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