Ben Stokes has again defended his side’s decision to withold England’s top stars from a pink-ball practice match in Canberra ahead of next week’s second Test at The Gabba.

In the wake of their eight-wicket defeat by Australia in Perth, the tourists faced scrutiny for not sending members of the squad to the capital to take on a Prime Minister’s XI team in a two-day, day-night match.

Instead, members of the England Lions will take on the side, with Jacob Bethell, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue set to fly out for the game.

Multiple England greats expressed their bewilderment at England’s call to snub the opportunity for more game time, with ex-captain Michael Vaughan branding the move ‘amateurish’ in his column in The Telegraph over the weekend. It came after Vaughan had criticised England for their preparations ahead of the series.

Stokes and England touched down in Brisbane on Wednesday ahead of the second Test at the Gabba on December 4.

The England skipper was asked by a 7News reporter while walking through the airport what he made of criticisms of the call not to play in the match in Canberra.

Stokes replied: ‘We’re thinking about what we need to do in Brisbane, mate.’

Joe Root, who scored eight runs across both innings in Perth, was also questioned on England’s preparations.

‘Yeah, I mean, we’re preparing as best we can and we’re look forward to the next game,’ Root told 7News, adding that he was looking forward to the Test in Brisbane.

England’s record at The Gabba leaves a lot to be desired, with the tourists' last win at the Brisbane ground coming in 1986, with that being one of only four victories at the venue.

Following the first Test, Stokes was asked by BBC Sport’s Jonathan Agnew on whether the team’s preparations for the Brisbane Test would change following the defeat.

‘We’ve operated in this way, where we know that the preparation that we put in is correct in the way that for us,’ Stokes said.

‘We prepare incredibly well, we work incredibly hard every single day that we get the opportunity to work on our game.

‘We believe and we trust in our process. If the results don’t go in our favour, that’s not going to differ, because hand on heart, we know we put every ounce of ourselves into our training and we know and believe this is the best way for this team to operate.’

Agnew, who played three Tests for England between 1984 and 1985, pressed again on the matter, but Stokes awkwardly replied: ‘I’ve just answered that question, Aggers.’

Brendon McCullum has also fielded questions on the matter, revealing he believes there were more benefits to keeping the squad together in the aftermath of the Perth defeat, rather than sending some players off to the Capital Territory to play in the pink-ball practice match.

‘We’ve got to work out whether that extra cricket is the key, or making sure that camaraderie is tight and morale doesn’t drop,’ McCullum said in reference to the Canberra game.

‘We’ve just got to work out what the pros and cons of all that are.’

England, have though, received the backing of some of their former stars, with another former skipper, Alec Stewart, urging Stokes and his team to ‘stick to your guns’.

He told BBC Sport yesterday: ‘Talk about it, then make decisions that you believe are right for the group, not what the outside world is thinking.’