England faced one of the toughest defeats in the Ashes series in Australia - they lost three consecutives. England’s bid to reclaim the urn came to a halt, officially slipping away after an 82-run defeat in Adelaide that handed Australia an unassailable 3-0 lead.
The result left England skipper Ben Stokes absolutely disappointed and serious questions now loom as the much-hyped Bazball failed miserably. Stokes could not hide the disappointment and he conceded that England were unable to match the consistency Australia displayed.
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Stokes admitted that England did have some key moments where they thought they could bounce back but Australia made it impossible to for Ben Stokes and co. to find back the momentum.
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“That dream that we came here with is now over, which is incredibly disappointing. Everyone is hurting and quite emotional. We’ve got two more games to go and that is the focus now. We came with a goal in mind we couldn’t achieve, and it hurt and it sucks,” said Stokes at the post-match presentation.
“Australia have been able to execute things on a much more consistent basis than us, with the ball, with the bat and the field. They’ve been able to outdo us on a much higher level,” explained Stokes. “We’ve shown passages in these games, and even this week we did well to take it where we did in the fourth innings and looked like we were on for another heist.”
“Looking back on this game, losing the toss and going in to bowl and keeping Australia to an under-par score, and not being able to respond with the bat when we knew we had the opportunity to put up a big score,” said Stokes. “But then to fight back with the ball like we did yesterday morning, we were confident of having a good chance of chasing it down because of how good a wicket it was. Losing the three wickets at the end of yesterday set us back.”
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Stokes highlighted that England did show intent but gave Australia the credit that they deserved to win and that's why they have 3-0 lead. Stokes insisted that England will now continue to keep their spirits high and put up a strong competition in the remaining matches.