Australian women captain Alyssa Healy has backed England captain Ben Stokes amid criticism for her team’s struggles during the ongoing Ashes 2025-26 series. Healy said the captain was being unfairly blamed for the team’s problems, adding that England’s batsmen, including Harry Brook, had shown poor shot selection.
England were hoping to end their Test series win drought in Australia, but their campaign suffered heavy defeats in Perth and Brisbane. They are now trailing 2-0 and need to win the third Test to be held at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide from December 17. Stokes has taken the blame as he tries to keep the competition alive.
There is a lot of accountability on Ben Stokes – Alyssa Healy
Speaking on the Willow Talk podcast, Alyssa Healy defended Ben Stokes as criticism grows over England’s Ashes clash. He said that the burden of responsibility has been unfairly placed on Ben Stokes and he takes more blame than he deserves.
“I really think Ben Stokes takes a lot of accountability for everything. I admire him completely. He stands there every Test match we lose and says, ‘I’ll take accountability for this, for this.’ [and] it. I did this wrong, I did that wrong,” Healy said on the Willow Talk podcast.
Harry Brook played shocking shots twice in this test – Alyssa Healy
Alyssa Healy questioned why senior England players are not taking responsibility for their mistakes. Healy said players must be willing to admit when their poor decisions hurt the team. He also pointed out that Harry Brook played unnecessarily careless shots in the series.
“How about taking a little bit of the burden off your captain? ‘Hi, my name is Harry Brook, I played amazing shots twice in this Test match (Brisbane) and I put our team under unnecessary pressure twice,’ Healy said.
“I’ve never heard him come out and say that. There’s your captain standing there supporting him and saying, ‘I did this wrong, I did that wrong.’ To me, this is troubling, and he and Brendan are creating a bubble environment. [McCullum] “We’re trying to empower our players so they can go out there and compete.”
Harry Brook was under pressure for careless shots throughout the series
England have struggled during the Ashes and failed to take control of the season. Their batting has collapsed at times, the bowlers lack discipline and missed chances have made things worse. The baseball style is being questioned as it did not work against the strong Australian team.
Ben Stokes has also not been able to get his team out of difficult situations. Many players have failed to progress, including Harry Brook.
The vice-captain looked set for 31 before playing a careless shot off Steve Smith at slip in Brisbane. He was out after scoring just 15 runs and England were all out for 241 runs in the second innings. Brook has so far scored only 98 runs in four innings at an average of 24.50.
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