Stokes acknowledges England’s ‘poor’ performance but remains dedicated to captaincy
Ben Stokes has expressed his commitment to the England captaincy while admitting that his team was unable to handle a “barrage” from Australia throughout the first three Tests, culminating in the Ashes series loss in a record-equalling 11 days. Stokes, who has been England’s Test captain since 2022, recently signed a new two-year central contract that extends until the conclusion of the 2027 summer. He affirmed that he “absolutely” has the ambition to continue in the captaincy role, emphasizing that nothing has altered regarding his future in international cricket since the tour began. England arrived in Australia with aspirations of becoming the first team to secure an away Ashes series win since 2010-11 but have been soundly outplayed, suffering defeats of eight wickets in Perth and Brisbane, along with an 85-run loss in Adelaide. Stokes admitted that Australia has been “a lot better” than England, pinpointing his bowlers’ inconsistency as a notable frustration. “It obviously sucks,” Stokes remarked. “Understanding now that we can’t achieve what we aimed for here is certainly disappointing… It’s straightforward to me that Australia have managed to execute batting, bowling, and fielding much more effectively than us on a far more consistent basis.” “They’ve been able to implement everything significantly better than us for a much longer period of time. We’ve experienced moments where we’ve excelled, but Australia have consistently outperformed us over an extended stretch during this series thus far.” “We understand the strategies that succeed out here. We’ve just struggled to implement those strategies long enough. We did it at intervals and during phases, but you simply cannot be so subpar with your execution as consistently as we have been in these first three matches—particularly with the ball, as when you’re off here, it gets punished, and we’ve observed that.” England has veered away from the ultra-aggressive batting that yielded 10 wins in their initial 12 Tests since Stokes and Brendon McCullum took the helm as captain and coach, scoring at a notably slower rate than Australia in this series. While Stokes defended his team’s identity, Australian captain Pat Cummins argued that England had altered their approach. “They appear to have shifted their style quite a bit from game to game,” Cummins noted. “I think that can occur in unfamiliar conditions: you’re always trying to find a method that performs.” Mitchell Starc celebrates the wicket of Will Jacks on the final day•Getty Images Cummins specifically pointed out England’s strategy on the second day of the third Test in Adelaide, when they managed to score 154 for 5 in 54 overs across the final two sessions amidst sweltering heat. Stokes himself batted in a notably defensive manner, remaining unbeaten at 45 off 151 balls before picking up the pace on the third morning. “Day two was surprising: it was around 40 degrees, very hot, and a flat wicket, and they shut up shop for a significant part of the day, which I was quite comfortable with. Who knows? I’m certain they’ll discuss it and approach us with different tactics for Melbourne and Sydney. I’m pleased that we’ve been able to stick with our approach and play the way we perform best, and it’s worked.” Stokes maintained that England still has “a hell of a lot to play for” even after the series has been lost: “Walking out there and representing England is a worthwhile endeavor in itself… We’re not going to just give up because we have so much more to compete for in the series, even though we can’t return with the goal we set out to accomplish.” He also posited that England played “our best cricket so far on this tour” in Adelaide, with Will Jacks and Jamie Smith momentarily threatening to achieve an “upset” on the final day, and stated that the outcome of the toss—won by Australia for the first time in the series—was a significant factor in the result. “We bowled Australia out for a score that was below par on a day-one wicket in Adelaide,” Stokes stated. “We understood that we were actually ahead of the game at that point, even before we batted. We knew we had an excellent chance to post a big score in the first innings and place Australia under pressure. We weren’t able to capitalize, but we fought back.” “We demonstrated the fight I referenced, managing to reduce the (deficit) to 80-something (85) when Australia began their second innings and got ourselves back into contention… We were close, but not close enough, and being close doesn’t help much when you need to win a match.” “It’s quite an emotional time for me and the dressing room, as well as the players, management, and backroom staff—but when we regroup and discuss the game and what we need to do in the remaining matches, we will take away valuable lessons from this game. This illustrates how we can better position ourselves for a more consistent performance.” Matt Roller is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
Published: 2025-12-21 06:45:00
source: www.espncricinfo.com
