The start of the Ashes series in Australia has again been horrible for England as they lost the first test match at Brisbane by 10 wickets.

They were in the game for the first three days, but the wheels came off on the 4^th day when Australia put on some fiery fast bowling on display.

England had suffered a 0-5 clean sweep at the hands of the Aussies the last time they had played the Ashes down under and some of the experts see the current series going that way as well.

One of the main reasons why England is looking so weak is because they have no Ben Stokes who has been their key player in all formats of the game in the recent past.

Stokes got himself involved in a street fight just weeks ahead of the Ashes and was banned by ECB from representing the national team for an indefinite period of time.

With Stokes not there, England is looking towards Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes to do the all-rounder’s job and while they are also good all-rounders, they are not in the same bracket as Stokes who is capable of making a genuine impact with both bat and ball.

It’s however not clear though whether Stokes is going to remain out for the entire Ashes or he will take part in the latter stages of the series.

The ECB has left it to the Police investigation. If the Police clear Stokes of any wrongdoing anytime soon, he may fly Down Under to take part in the last couple of tests, however the possibilities remain slim.

Stokes, in his 39 test matches so far, has scored over 2000 runs and has taken close to 100 wickets for England. He has 6 centuries and 4 five-wicket hauls to his name.