England captain Ben Stokes must “respect” the views of former players says ex-skipper Michael Vaughan, after Stokes described some of his critics as “has-beens”.

Vaughan, former captain Graham Gooch and legendary all-rounder Lord Botham have been among those to question England’s preparation for first Ashes Test next week.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, Stokes defended the decision to have a solitary warm-up match – an in-house game against England Lions – saying “we can’t prepare how the has-beens maybe prepared”.

Writing in the Telegraph,, external Vaughan said: “England have to accept that there will be scrutiny.

“Just because the ‘has-beens’ have a different view does not mean these are not valid comments. England should respect those views.

“They are coming from legends of the game who can’t play any more because they are too old, but that doesn’t mean they don’t desperately want England to win.

“They are saying these things because they are concerned, and see the risk.”

England’s three-day warm-up against their development side begins on Thursday. The first Test against Australia starts eight days later on 21 November.

Stokes’ side have been training in Perth this week and their approach is similar to their preparations for their five previous overseas tours under Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. England have won the first Test of those series on each occasion.

But it differs from many previous Ashes tours, when England played several warm-up games. Botham said it “borders on arrogance”, Vaughan called it a “huge risk” and Gooch labelled it “glorified practice”.

Stokes responded by saying “cricket has changed so much” and pointed to the busier calendar, plus the fact the ongoing Australian domestic season would have impacted the quality of opponents, as reasons not to have an extended build-up.

“There are quite a few factors that go into why we can’t prepare how the has-beens maybe prepared in the past,” he said.

“We’re very comfortable with how we prepare because we leave no stone unturned.”