Stokes blasts England bowlers as Ashes hopes fade after 2-0 start
England captain Ben Stokes has delivered a brutal assessment of his team, and it’s led to a big rumour emerging ahead of a must-win Test.
Two zip down and a mountain to climb.
As England great Nasser Hussain put it following a grizzly Gabba performance, England were “out bowled, out batted, out caught, out thought”.
“I don’t know where you want to start but completely and utterly outplayed from start to finish,” Hussain said.
The display left a lot to be desired from the Barmy Army and sparked early rumours of a starting eleven shake up only two games into the series.
Speaking after the game England captain Ben Stokes said, “There’s a saying that was said a lot here in this dressing room ‘Australia isn’t for weak men’”.
“A dressing room that I’m captain of isn’t a place for weak men either,” Stokes said.
“We need to dig deep, I need to dig deep. I need to get this team in a place where we do go out there in Melbourne and we are seriously switched on and understand where we are right now.
It comes as despite the string of disappointing results England announced a team holiday to Noosa before the Adelaide Test.
Stokes justified the break by attributing the performances in part to mental failures rather than physical.
“Look, we’ve been here for four weeks and it’s been pretty full on from on the field stuff, off the field stuff. As physical as this game is, a huge part of it is also the mental side of it,” he said.
“I know that, I’ve experienced that, I know what the game can do to you when things aren’t quite feeling right or going well. So trust me when I say it is so-so important that teams when they do get an occasion or an opportunity to be able to go away as a team and just put the pressures of this [game] aside for a couple of days.”
In terms of players on the potential cutting board there’s no shortage of options, iconic commentator Kerry ‘Skull’ O’Keeffe said he’d drop both Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope following lacklustre performances with the bat while Stokes shaded fellow bowlers Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer.
“Not being able to execute your skill is something that you can live with because no one means to, you know, bowl away from the plan we’re trying to do,” Stokes said.
“We knew exactly how we needed to bowl on that wicket and we weren’t able to do it for a long enough period to put the Australian batsman under pressure, that was evident in the way Australia were able to score so quickly and so easily against us.
“I think Jofra [Archer] and Gus [Atkinson] set the tone very nicely actually when we first took the ball but then myself and Brydey [Carse] sort of let the game get away from us quite quickly, not being able to execute what’s needed, not only with bat in hand but also with ball, we’ll be having some conversations that I’ll be keeping into the dressing room.”
Stokes added the result was “obviously very disappointing” and that a lot of it came down to not being able to withstand the pressure of the game when the game was on the line.
“For me it just seems to be a constant theme at the moment that when the game is in a pressure moment Australia keep outdoing us in those moments,” Stokes said.
“They say Australia isn’t a place for weak men, we’re definitely not weak but we need to find something because we’re two nil down now we’ve got three more games to go and we need to sort it.”
Following Stokes comments one fan posted a picture of Jofra Archer seen carrying a pillow pre game with the simple caption: Ben Stokes “Australia is not a place for weak men”.
Archer copped some slack after delivering his fastest spell of bowling when Australia was chasing the minuscule second innings tally.
Australian Captain Steve Smith was smacking Archer round the ground when Archer snipped, “You only play those shots when there’s not much on the score, mate”.
Smith got the better of the exchange, replying: “You only bowl fast when there’s nothing going on, champion”.
Smith then hit a six on the final ball of the test.
One of England’s greatest test bowlers Stuart Broad questioned England’s lack of variety in bowling choice and whether someone like medium pace bowler Josh Tongue might be better suited.
“I actually wonder if the selection was wrong? Jofra, Gus and Carse are these back of the length bowlers and… I wonder whether a Josh Tongue with a pink ball should have been involved here because the three guys outside of Ben Stokes all looked quite similar,” he said.
“Jofra had times, he’s going to get a bit of criticism because he’s started spells badly, he bowled 133s that’s not necessarily what he’s in the squad for. Yes he’s ramped up to 150s when Australia are chasing 60 runs or whatever they’re chasing, but it’s his quickest spell in Test match cricket. Don’t save it for now. I should’ve seen that first innings.”
Meanwhile longstanding England cricket fan and apologist Piers Morgan – who prior to the series starting labelled England’s aggressive playstyle of ‘Bazball’ as genius and backed England to smash Australia – applauded the captain for his direct appraisal of the situation.
“Spot on, Captain Stokes,” he said.
“We have the skills to beat Australia, but we don’t have their mental strength. Rarely seen him so direct in public criticism of his team … and suspect it will involve much sharper language behind closed doors. Wake up, wise up, and toughen up England.”
Originally published as Stokes blasts England bowlers as Ashes hopes fade after 2-0 start
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