England coach Trevor Bayliss has written off their flamboyant all-rounder Benjamin Stokes, who has been suspended by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after being involved in a brutal fight outside a nightclub in Bristol.

After the third One-Day International against West Indies, Stokes, with Alex Hales, went for a night out and ended up in the prison. However, he was released but was suspended till the investigation completes.

Stokes-less England has arrived in Australia to fight for the urn and to avoid what happened during the last tour Down Under. First, they lost the Ashes with a humiliating scoreline of 5-0 before crashing out of the World Cup 2015 in Australasia after round robin. Bayliss has made it clear that team is preparing for a life without Stokes.

“If he turns up it’s an absolute bonus. If he did happen to turn up, I’m sure he would slip back in easily,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bayliss revealed that he has no idea when he is going to come back. “It’s totally out of our hands. We have just got on with preparing as best we can. I have (written Stokes off).”

Despite his absence, Coach believes England will manage the line-up well and his gap will be cured. He further added “Having to replace Ben and the combination that we come up with requires doing a bit of both (batting and bowling). Moeen Ali batting as low as eight for the last couple of years… that’s a waste. It’s a combination that we will get to as the team develops. We have had problems at the top of the order so having Mo at eight and (Chris) Woakes nine suited us.”

Bayliss said before concluding “The way Stokes has been playing, he’s developing into a world-class number five. Those three, in whatever combination, that’s a pretty good five, six, seven with Woakes at number eight. I think that’s what we were working towards anyway.”

The first Ashes Test will undergo from November 23 in Brisbane.