Stokes pleased to end Australia drought, but circumstances 'not ideal'

Ben Stokes said that his England team would take pride in ending their 15-year wait for an Ashes victory on Australian soil, but acknowledged that the circumstances were "not ideal" for his side, on a surface heavily favoured towards the bowlers, and with the series already surrendered after three straight losses across the opening 11 days of action.

Stokes and his predecessor as captain, Joe Root, were both part of the 2013-14 squad that arrived in Australia off the back of three straight Ashes series wins, only to suffer a 5-0 whitewash that set in motion a run of 16 defeats and two draws down under that culminated in last week's 82-run loss in Adelaide.

Now, however, they have helped to oversee victory in just two days at the MCG, on a spicy surface in which no player on either side made a half-century. England were required to chase 175, the highest score of the match, after being bowled out for 110 in the first innings to concede a 42-run deficit, but did so at a familiarly brisk rate, requiring just 32.2 overs to end their long wait, thanks to key contributions from Jacob Bethell (40), Zak Crawley (37) and Ben Duckett (34).

"Yeah, we've got the win, but honestly, it's not what you want, really," Stokes told TNT after the match. "The conditions were heavily sided to one skill of the game, which is not ideal, and the game lasts less than two days.

"But when you take all that away, you are confronted with conditions, and what you've then got to do is decide on what's the best mode of operation to be able to give you the most chance of success. Chasing 170 was always going to be difficult, but I thought the way that we took the game on from the outset was the exact way that we needed to do that."

Despite the fact that the series has already been lost, both senior players took pride in the resilience that the team had showed after a torrid build-up to the Test. In the fall-out from the Adelaide defeat, focus had fallen on the team's mid-series trip to the beach resort of Noosa - in particular a viral video of Ben Duckett looking worse for wear after a night out. But the squad managed to put the furore to one side to deliver a long overdue win.

"It's disappointing that it's not to affect the series," Root admitted. "But I think it's really important, after everything that's been thrown at the group over the last little while, for us to respond in that fashion, and to find a way on that wicket. It showed good cricket smarts, and great bravery, to read that situation and play with that conviction. So I'm very proud of the boys, and hopefully we can build on it and use the momentum into the next game."

Speaking before the match, Stokes had vowed to rally round his embattled players, not least Duckett, and attempt to provide them with the support they needed to play with the freedom that their team ethos has long espoused. He was proud that his message had fallen on receptive ears.

"In the few days building up to this, you front up to a few things," he said. "The big thing for me, walking out on day one, was obviously understanding that there's going to be 94,000 people here at the MCG, it's going to be loud, so just it's about making sure everyone was on top of the way in which they held themselves, in terms of body language and intensity in the field."

He also thanked the England fans who had made the long trip to Australia for the series.

"We're very lucky that we get to be involved in a sporting occasion like this on Boxing Day," he said. "We obviously get it here, and every now and again in South Africa, but playing on Boxing Day in front of 95,000 at the MCG, is something pretty special.

"But the noise difference was no different to the first couple of games, and that shows we've got an unbelievable fan base. They are with us through thick and thin. They've been absolutely awesome, and they've spent a lot of hours in the sun over there today, so I'm hoping [expecting] that few of them wake up with a sore head.

"We're over the moon. We're excited that we've managed to get on the right side of the result. But, before this game started, we knew what the goal was. We've got two games left, and we want to leave here with two results. So, our focus isn't going to change when we go to Sydney. We're still going to go out there with the exact same mindset and intensity towards beating Australia. There's no such thing as a dead rubber when you represent your country."