England need Ben Stokes tohave any chance of retaining the Ashes, says Shane Watson, but the retired Test all-rounder has implored the ECB to set a precedent and not call on him for the rest of the series.
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Stokes flew to New Zealand earlier this week and is expected to play for club side Canterbury while England and Australia contest the day-night Adelaide Test beginning on Saturday.
And while Stokes is publicly claiming his trip to New Zealand is to visit family, the ECB appears poised to rush their key man back into the Ashes fray in time for the third Test, should he be cleared by police for his role in a street brawl outside a Bristol nightclub.
The visitors are in significant danger of losing the Ashes following Australia's imposing 10-wicket win at the Gabba in the first Test and Watson said England would struggle to compete this summer without the star all-rounder.
"Not after what I saw in Brisbane," Watson said when asked if England could win the Ashes. "There's no doubt that England are down on confidence because he's not in the team. The quality and calibre and player that he is, the impact that he has with both bat and ball and also in the field, that's a huge loss for England.
"It's impossible to be able to fill that void. There's no doubt that England are going to be trying to show the bravado that they have, but it's just not going to be the same without him in the team.
"I don't think he should be able to come and play. There needs to be a precedent set, even for his own benefit, to be able to learn from his mistakes that he has and realise that there are consequences for your actions at times. The footage that you see – there's no hiding nowadays with video phones, with CCTV footage."
Watson said suspending Stokes for the entire Ashes series would ultimately prove beneficial for him as a player and person.
"The only way you learn as a person really is when there are strong consequences to mistakes you make, and you have to learn from and get better," Watson said.
"The calibre of player and, of course, the calibre of person that Ben Stokes is, he wouldn't be as good as he is if he didn't have a burning desire to get the best out of himself, not just as a cricketer, but as a person as well.
"There's no doubt he'll come back even stronger from it, but you do have to learn from your mistakes at times."
Watson will captain the Sydney Thunder again this season and helped introduce professional wrestling superstar John Cena to cricket on Wednesday morning during a short net session at the University of Sydney.
The Thunder are desperate to return to the Big Bash finals this season and remain hopeful of securing the services of Englishman James Vince, who fell 17 runs short of an Ashes century at the Gabba.
"I really like Vincey as a person, but also as a cricketer – he's a beautiful batsman to be able to watch," Watson said.
"He does it incredibly easily, times the ball beautifully, as we saw during the Big Bash here at the Thunder. He came out of the blue a little bit to be able to get picked in the Ashes squad, which is a great thing for him.
"He's a world-class player, the way he hits the ball, the time that he's got at the crease. It's not a surprise to be able to see him scoring runs like he did."
