Stokes admits England have been 'poor' but remains committed to captaincy

Ben Stokes said that he remains committed to the England captaincy but conceded that his side proved unable to withstand a "barrage" from Australia across the first three Tests, losing the Ashes series in a record-equalling 11 days.

Stokes, England's Test captain since 2022, signed a new two-year central contract before this tour which runs until the end of the 2027 summer. He insisted that he "absolutely" still has the desire to continue as captain and said that nothing has changed since the start of the tour with regards to his future in international cricket.

England arrived in Australia with high hopes of becoming the first team to win an away Ashes series since 2010-11 but have been thoroughly outplayed, losing by eight wickets in Perth and Brisbane and by 85 runs in Adelaide. Stokes conceded that Australia have been "a lot better" than England, and highlighted his bowlers' inconsistency as a particular disappointment.

"It obviously sucks," Stokes said. "Knowing now that we can't achieve what we set out to do here is obviously very disappointing… It's quite simple to me that Australia have been able to execute batting, bowling and fielding a lot more than us on a much more consistent basis.

"They've been able to execute everything a lot 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 a lot better than us over a much longer period of time in this series so far.

"We know the plans that work out here. We've just not been able to execute those plans for long enough. We did it in moments and did it in passages, but you just can't be so poor with your execution as consistently as we have been over these first three games - and particularly with the ball, because when you're off here, it gets punished, and we've seen that."

England have shifted away from the ultra-attacking batting that helped them win 10 out of their first 12 Tests since Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as captain and coach, scoring at a significantly slower rate than Australia in this series. And while Stokes defended his side's identity, Australia captain Pat Cummins suggested that England had changed course.

"They seem to have changed their style quite a bit game to game," Cummins said. "I think that can happen in overseas conditions: you're always trying to fight for a method that works."

Cummins specifically highlighted England's approach on the second day of the third Test in Adelaide, when they added 154 for 5 in 54 overs across the final two sessions in sweltering temperatures. Stokes himself batted particularly defensively, finishing unbeaten on 45 off 151 balls before accelerating on the third morning.

"Day two I thought was surprising: it was 40-odd degrees, it was hot, it was a very flat wicket and they shut up shop there for half of the day, which I was pretty happy with. Who knows? I'm sure they'll talk about it and come at us with different plans for Melbourne and Sydney. I'm glad that we've been able to stick to our guns and play the way that we play best, and it's worked."

Stokes insisted that England still have "a hell of a lot to play for" despite the fact that the series has been lost: "Walking out there and playing for England is a good enough thing in itself… We're not going to turn around and kick the stumps over because we have so much more to play for in the series, although we can't go back with the thing we came out here to do."

He also argued that England had played "our best game of cricket so far on this tour" in Adelaide, with Will Jacks and Jamie Smith briefly threatening to pull off a "heist" on the final day, and said that the toss - which Australia won for the first time in the series - had been a major contributing factor to the result.

"We bowled Australia out for a total that was under-par on a day-one wicket in Adelaide," Stokes said. "We knew that we were actually ahead of the game then, before we even went out and batted. We knew that we had a great opportunity to get a big score on the scoreboard in the first innings and put Australia on the back foot. We weren't able to do that, but we hung in there.

"We showed that fight that I was talking about, and being able to get the [deficit] to 80-something [85] when Australia started their second innings and got ourselves back into the game… We were close, but not close enough, and being close ain't going to do much for you when you need to win a game.

"It's a pretty emotional time for me and the dressing room and the guys - players, management, backroom staff - but when we get ourselves together and speak about the game and what we need to do in the remaining games, we'll take a lot out of this game. This is how we can apply ourselves to give ourselves a better chance of being a much more consistent team."