Ben Stokes admits that his team’s performance has been very poor, but it has not affected his international career in any way. Despite the humiliating series defeat to the Australians in this Ashes, he will remain England’s Test captain until the end of his contract in 2027.
England have already lost the Ashes series with the defeat in Adelaide. The remaining two matches will be a battle of prestige for the British and a game of dominance for the Australians as they attempt to complete a clean sweep on home soil.
Captain Ben Stokes has finally admitted that his team has not been at its best, and hence, Australia can clinch a record-equalling series win in just 11 days in the Ashes.
Ben Stokes wants to remain England’s Test captain
England captain Ben Stokes has signed a central contract with the ECB, which makes him available as England captain until 2027 and Stokes has also shown no intention of reducing it in any way.
He insisted that nothing much has changed since the beginning of the Ashes, and now, therefore, these defeats do not affect his career as an international cricketer, especially when Stokes has got runs with the bat and wickets with the ball as well.
However, Stokes admitted that it is disappointing that they can no longer achieve what they had initially achieved before coming into the series. England came in with high hopes of winning the Ashes for the first time since 2010–11, but were humiliated.
Ben Stokes seems angry with his team’s inconsistency
Ben Stokes put England’s defeat quite simply, as he suggested that the Australians could have performed much better with the bat, the ball and also on the field, while the England players were very inconsistent in all three departments.
“They are able to execute everything much better than us [for] A much more consistent period of time. “We’ve had moments where we’ve been very good, but Australia have been much better than us for a long time so far in this series,” Ben Stokes said.
Stokes also claimed that England are well aware of the strategies that work in Australia, it is just that they have not been able to execute them and they have been very inconsistent in their execution. Stokes looked very angry with his bowlers.
Ben Stokes cited positive aspects of Adelaide Test
Despite losing the series, Stokes insisted that England still had a lot to play for in the series. ,We will not back down and kick the stumps because we have a lot to play for in the series, however we cannot go back with what we came here to do,” the English captain said.
The England captain argued that the English players are slowly finding their rhythm as they played their best game in the Adelaide Test, as he highlighted the lower-order partnerships between Jamie Smith and Will Jacks and then Brydon Carse and Jacks.
Stokes also praised England’s effort on the first day of the Adelaide Test, when Australia were bowled down to par, and felt they were in the driving seat until they came out to bat. The English legend feels that his team has finally put up the fight he was talking about.
Stokes concluded, “We were close, but not that close, and being close isn’t going to do you much when you need to win the game.”
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