The Ashes: Ben Stokes hits 42 but Joe Root and others fail with bat in England warm-up

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Ben Stokes scored 42 but there were failures for the other England batters on the final day of their intra-squad Ashes warm-up match in Brisbane.

Stokes, playing for the first time since July, followed his two wickets by hitting six fours in 56 balls before retiring to allow others to bat.

But captain Joe Root was out for eight and Jonny Bairstow fell for a first-ball duck against the England Lions.

Opener Haseeb Hameed was dismissed for seven while Dawid Malan made just nine.

Rory Burns scored 37 as England responded to the Lions' 226-4 on Wednesday.

A number of players then swapped sides or returned to bat for a second time to gain match practice, Bairstow scoring 11.

It was England's last day of warm-up action before the first Ashes Test against Australia begins on Tuesday, but many of the batters' first middle practice of the tour.

England's preparations have been severely hampered by rain which washed out the first two days of the four-day match and all but 29 overs of last week's three-day warm-up.