“Australia executed things better than us” - England captain Ben Stokes after losing Ashes 2025-26

Ben Stokes, England captain, conceded that Australia was better than them after the visitors went 0-3 down in the five-Test series. England also lost the Ashes urn, which Australia retained with the win in Adelaide.

Australia won the Ashes 2025/2026 in 11 days after defeating England by 82 runs on Saturday at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide. After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, the hosts scored 371 runs. England responded by scoring 286 runs before giving up a lead in the first innings.  

Travis Head scored 170 runs in the second inning on his home field. In the last innings, England was given a target of 435 runs. Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Nathan Lyon each took three wickets throughout the innings, but despite their best efforts, they were dismissed for 352 runs.

This was England's third series loss in Australia following their victory in 2010–2011. The English supporters were somewhat cautiously optimistic about their chances of winning the Ashes in Australia this time around thanks to the new Bazball strategy, but their luck has been the same.

“The dream that we came here with is now over, which is obviously incredibly disappointing. Everyone’s hurting and quite emotional about it. 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 haven’t been able to achieve that. It hurts and it sucks, but we’re not going to stop,” said Ben Stokes after the loss to the broadcasters.

“Australia has been able to execute things on a much more consistent basis than us with the ball, with the bat, and in the field. This game is based on how you bat, how you bowl, and how you field, and they’ve outdone us on a much higher level.

We’ve got two more games. We’ve got so much to play for. We’re not going to roll over and let this series drift. We’re going to leave absolutely everything out there in these last two games. We’ve got people travelling over to watch, we’ve got pride, and we’re going to give absolutely everything,” Stokes concluded.

The fourth test of the series will be played in Melbourne at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from December 26 onwards.

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