Ben Stokes says England’s Ashes defeat “hurts” and “sucks” – but insists he wants to continue as captain.
Stokes cut a disconsolate figure at the post-match presentation as Australia clinched an unassailable 3-0 series lead inside 11 days with an 82-run victory on the final day of the third Test in Adelaide.
But he vowed the team would not give up over the final two Tests and reaffirmed his own desire to fight on as captain when the focus turns to the longer-term ramifications of failure.
Asked whether the loss would cause him to question his commitment to the England job, Stokes said firmly in his press conference: “Nope.”
And asked if he still had the energy for the job, Stokes replied: “Absolutely.”
Australia celebrate the winning moment in the third Ashes Test as the Ashes were retained
Reflecting on defeat in the immediate aftermath, Stokes said: “That dream that we came here with is now over, which is obviously incredibly disappointing.
“Everyone is obviously hurting and quite emotional about it. But we’ve got two more games to go and that’s where the focus needs to switch to now.
“We came here with a goal in mind and we’ve not been able to achieve that. It hurts and it sucks, but we’re not going to stop.”
England’s goal now is to avoid a third 5-0 series whitewash in Australia in the past 20 years, following such scorelines in 2006-07 and 2013-14.
The tourists’ winless run in Australia also now stretches to 18 Tests, with 16 of those defeats since last tasting victory to close out their triumphant 2010-11 tour.
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Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain reflect on day five at The Ashes, where England saw their end as Australia won by 82 runs.
Stokes: Team showed fight I was asking for
But Stokes, who called on England to “show a bit of dog” ahead of the third Test, said he was encouraged by the fight he saw from his side in Adelaide despite the defeat.
Jofra Archer claimed his first Test five-for since 2019 and hit a maiden half century in England’s first innings as he shared in a century stand with his skipper for the ninth wicket.
Stokes’ side also did well to take Australia’s last six second-innings wickets for just 38 runs, before making a decent fist of a record chase of 435, with Jamie Smith and Will Jacks taking them to within 150 of their target – with four wickets remaining – at one point on the final morning.
Jamie Smith and Will Jacks put on 91 together for the seventh wicket to briefly given England hope of victory on the final day
“All of the stuff from last week about me wanting to see a bit more from the team, I can definitely say I saw that this week,” Stokes said.
“Some of the guys lower down the order dug in and showed that courage and fight that I was asking for.
“Yes, we’ve been on the wrong side of the result, but I think we can take a lot from this game into the remaining two games.”
Stokes added: “Australia have just been able to execute things on a much more consistent basis than us – with the ball, the bat and in the field.
“We’ve showed it in passages in this first three games, and this week I thought we did incredibly well to take it to where we did do in the fourth innings.
“I thought we were on for another heist this morning when Jamie [Smith] and Will [Jacks] were playing so well, and though we now can’t do what we came here to do, there’s some good things to take out of this game.
“We aren’t just going to fall over and let this series play out. We’re going to give absolutely everything.”
England next head to Melbourne for the fourth Test, which begins on Boxing Day, before the Ashes draws to a close in Sydney from January 4-8.
Ashes series in Australia 2025-26
Australia lead five-match series 3-0
