England’s rugby league stars were presented their shirts for the opening Test of this autumn’s Ashes by cricket captain Ben Stokes.
Shaun Wane promised that he had a special ceremony lined up for the 17 players that were fortunate enough to be selected for Saturday’s opener at Wembley Stadium: and he did not disappoint.
England Test captain Stokes, whose father Ged coached both Workington and Whitehaven, was the guest of honour and spent the entire evening in camp with the squad.
He then presented the shirts to the players that were picked before being gifted his own ceremonial England rugby league shirt for the occasion too.
Among those presented with their shirts were captain George Williams, who will lead England into battle on Saturday afternoon in the capital in front of over 60,000 people.
Wane has a number of selection dilemmas on his hands going into the first Test of the three-match series. Among them is whether to start St Helena’ Jack Welsby or Gold Coast Titans star AJ Brimson at fullback.
Saturday’s game will be played in front of the biggest ever crowd for an Ashes Test in the UK, with over 60,000 expected. And the involvement of Stokes, who himself will lead his country into battle in an Ashes series this winter, will ramp up the hype further.
