ENGLAND all-rounder Ben Stokes said yesterday that he is ready for whatever Australia’s wind-up merchants have in store for him during this summer’s Ashes.

The Aussies are expected to target Stokes, who has had several on-pitch bust-ups in his relatively short international career, when the series gets under way in Cardiff next week.

But the 24-year-old insists he is not about to shy away from any confrontations. “I’m definitely expecting some feuds out on the pitch.

“I don’t go looking for it and I don’t go out of my way to cause an argument, but if someone comes at you on the pitch in the heat of the moment and the adrenaline is going then no-one in this squad is one to shy away from it.

“We all have different ways of handling it. Some guys walk away from it and don’t get involved but I’ll look them in the eye and probably say something.”

Stokes does not have particularly happy memories of his only previous Ashes experience, the 5-0 whitewash Down Under 18 months ago.

But England head into this latest instalment on a high following triumphs over New Zealand earlier this summer.