Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
England captain ben stokes He said the Ashes defeat was “painful” and “sucks”, but vowed to fight on as captain despite disappointing performances in the first three Tests. Australia,
Australia won by 82 runs last day of third test adelaideSo far in this series, for the first time, England has taken a Test to the fifth day.
The nature of his victory is widespread Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum and ‘baseball’ philosophy put under pressureEngland are now trying to avoid a 5-0 defeat and end an 18-Test winless streak in Australia.
A disappointed Stokes later said, “It’s sad and it sucks. It’s very disappointing to know that we couldn’t achieve what we set out to do here.”
“It’s a very emotional time for me in the dressing room and for the people, the players, the management, backroom things. I don’t like to dwell in the past because you can never change what you’ve done… it’s what you do out there that matters and we just couldn’t cope with the attack that Australia threw at us.”
“We have not been able to withstand the hitting that Australia has done. But we still have two games left in the series and have a lot to play for individually and as a team.
“We will not look back and kick the stumps because we have a lot to play for.”
At 34 and with serious wear and tear on his body, there is little chance of Stokes being around when England next visit these parts in four years. But he has been centrally contracted for the next 18 months, meaning his last chance to reclaim the Ashes urn for his country on home soil in 2027.
Asked if he had the energy and desire to continue leading the team, he said in one word: “Absolutely.”
head coach Brendon McCullum has admitted for the first time that mistakes in England’s Ashes preparations played a role in his team’s collapse.
He has been criticized for taking the build-up period too lightly – whether it was solitary practice against the England Lions on a slow pitch, refusing to take a day-night practice match before the floodlit second Test or a mid-series beach break for Noosa – with a range of former England captains among those to have their say.
After previously deflecting attention from that investigation, notably saying that his team had “over-prepared” for the second Test, McCullum changed his tune and accepted his share of the blame.
“As a coach you look back at certain things, of course you do and ultimately you are responsible for how you prepare your team and how they prepare,” he said.
“I was confident, we were confident in our approach – leading not just in the first Test but also in the middle of the Test. I look back now and think, ‘Did we need more leadership in the first and did we need less leadership in the second?’
“These are the changes you look at over time and say would I have done it differently? In retrospect, we lost 3-0 so you would probably say there was room for change there.
“Again, you put your hand up as a coach and said maybe you haven’t got this right. At the time I thought it would give us our best chance because it’s been done before. But sitting here 3-0, it just didn’t work.”