‘It sucks’: Stokes’ blunt reaction to Ashes horror show… and reason they can’t beat Aussies

England captain Ben Stokes has emphasised that his side’s execution in Adelaide, and more broadly the first three Tests this summer, has been the decisive factor in losing yet another Ashes series on Australian soil.

Despite an honourable fourth innings effort, the Poms ultimately fell short of a world record chase to go down by 82 runs at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday, which sees the hosts take an unassailable 3-nil lead into Boxing Day.

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Speaking to journalists post-match, Stokes reassured fans that not all is lost on the remainder of the five-Test tour, with just four full days remaining until the iconic Melbourne match.

“Obviously it sucks. It’s very disappointing knowing now that we can’t achieve what we set out to do here,” Stokes began.

“Now, it moves over into: ‘What else do we have in front of us?’. We’ve still got two more games to play for … walking out there and playing for England is a good enough thing in itself.

“We aren’t going to turn around and kick the stumps over because we’ve lost the series here. There’s still so much more to play for.”

It was once again a frustrating outing for Stokes’ side, who again had several players who contributed somewhat without starring, or getting out with the bat in familiar fashion by their own doing.

And while Australia still were far from perfect with their own performance, they never truly looked out of the box seat throughout the four and a half days played.

“I’d never underestimate the Australian team … I think it’s quite simple for me that Australia has been able to execute batting, bowling and fielding a lot more than us, on a much more consistent basis,” Stokes continued.

“I think some individuals have learned a bit more about themselves this week. It’s obviously hard to look at it with too much positivity at the moment … but I’ll take the positives out of some of the things that I’ve seen this week.

“When we lost the toss and had to bowl, I think we bowled Australia out for an under-par on a day one wicket in Adelaide. We knew we were actually ahead of the game there before we even batted.

“We were close, but not close enough. And being close isn’t going to do much for you when you need to win a game.”

The ‘Bazball’ ideology, which is regularly associated with high-tempo, aggressive batting, looked to have been a distant memory for most of the third Test, which saw the likes of Zak Crawley and Harry Brook rein in their distinctive style significantly.

While it’s important to note that their batting looked as compact as ever in the process, it does indirectly speak volumes of their methodology — that they had deployed for so long before coming to Australia — no longer being the only way to play.

“We know the plans that work out here. As I said at the start, we just haven’t been able to execute those plans for long enough … you just can’t be so poor with your execution as consistently as we have been over these first three games, particularly with the ball,” Stokes said.

“I think this is our best game of cricket out on this tour, but it’s still not good enough.

“Obviously it’s a pretty emotional time for me in the dressing room (and everyone else) … but when we get ourselves together and speak about the game, we will take a lot out of this game.

“At the end of the day, what you do out there (on-field) is what counts … we’ve not been able to stand up to the barrage of execution from Australia.”

Commenting on his absence at the bowling crease during a critical passage of play during day three, Stokes revealed: “The first two days were pretty big … the next day honestly, I just didn’t feel right. I knew I still had a big role to play for the team, so I didn’t want to expose myself to something where I knew I wasn’t quite fit.

“I felt like I was going to snap every time I ran after a ball, so I just looked after myself for the remaining few days of this game … I actually listened to the advice given to me for a change.”