‘Hurt and emotional’ Ben Stokes reflects after England crushed by Australia: ‘The dream is now over’

England’s hopes of competing in one of the most fiercely contested Ashes series in Australia in the past 40 years have been dashed. In just three matches spread over five weeks, England’s dream of regaining the urn came to a crushing end with an 82-run loss in Adelaide, leaving them 3-0 down in the series.

Stokes reflects on a disappointing series

England captain Ben Stokes faced a harsh reality after the defeat, acknowledging that the ‘Bazball’ approach hadn’t delivered as hoped. Speaking at the post-match presentation, he said:

“That dream that we came here with is now over, which is incredibly disappointing. Everyone is hurting and quite emotional. We’ve got two more games to go and that is the focus now. We came with a goal in mind we couldn’t achieve, and it hurt and it sucks.”

Australia’s consistency proves decisive

Despite England and Australia being seen as relatively evenly matched on paper, Stokes admitted that his side couldn’t match Australia’s consistency with bat, ball, and in the field.

“Australia have been able to execute things on a much more consistent basis than us, with the ball, with the bat and the field. They’ve been able to outdo us on a much higher level,” he explained. “We’ve shown passages in these games, and even this week we did well to take it where we did in the fourth innings and looked like we were on for another heist.”

Missed opportunities in Adelaide

Stokes reflected on how England had a slight early advantage in the Adelaide Test but squandered it with a poor second innings batting performance. Travis Head’s commanding 170 shifted the momentum firmly in Australia’s favor. Although England reduced the target to within 82 runs, no batter could match Head’s match-defining effort.

“Losing the toss, going in to bowl, and keeping Australia to an under-par score, then not being able to respond with the bat when we had the opportunity to put up a big score… But then to fight back with the ball like we did yesterday morning, we were confident of having a good chance of chasing it down because of how good a wicket it was. Losing the three wickets at the end of yesterday set us back,” said Stokes.

Positives amid defeat

Despite the heavy loss, Stokes found encouragement in the effort and determination shown by his players, particularly those lower down the order.

“Last week there was stuff going around of how I wanted to see a bit more from the team, and I can definitely say I saw that this week. Some of the guys lower down the order showed that courage and fight and responsibility that I was asking for,” he said. “We’ve been on the wrong side of the result but there’s a lot we can take from this game and we’ve learnt a lot about our team.”

Ashes remain in Australia

With the series all but lost and a whitewash looming, Stokes took responsibility but vowed that England would continue to compete in the remaining matches.

“Our execution has not been good enough to come to Australia and compete with these guys, and I think the scoreline reflects that. We aren’t going to just fall over and let it play out, we will leave everything out in the field like we do,” he concluded.

The Ashes are set to remain in Australia, and England must regroup if they are to salvage pride in the remaining two Tests.