Starc, speaking on the same day it was announced his fellow seamer James Pattinson is the least likely of the Aussies’ four vaunted pace bowlers to be fit for the first Test in Brisbane next month, is equivocal about Stokes’s uncertain presence.

Stokes’s availability is shrouded in doubt after he was arrested last week on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm during late-night disorder outside a Bristol nightclub, then released without charge but still under investigation by Avon & Somerset Police.

The all-rounder and Test vice-captain was named in England’s Ashes squad two days later.