Best game of cricket on tour but still not good enough: Stokes

Eleven days of Test cricket was all it took for Australia to retain the Ashes Down Under. An 82-run win in Adelaide for the Australians has seen them take an unassailable 3-0 lead. But for Ben Stokes who dreamt about putting himself among an illustrious list of captains to have won the urn in Australia, the dream came to a tame end.

It puts a pretty sorry picture as England have now lost 16 off their last 18 Tests in Australia without a single win to show for it from the 2013/14 Ashes where they suffered a 5-0 whitewash.

"It obviously sucks," said Stokes after the defeat in the post-match press conference. Reflecting on the feeling of it coming to such a quick end, he was disappointed but mentioned that there was still a "hell of a lot to play" for in the remaining two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney. "[It is] very disappointing. Knowing now that we can't achieve what we set out to do here is obviously incredibly disappointing now.

"We have still got two games to go in the series, there is still a hell of a lot to play for, for us as individuals, as a team ... we aren't going to turn around and kick the stumps over because we lost the series here because there's still so much more to play for - although we can't go back with the goal that we came out here to do."

England were thoroughly outplayed in the two Tests in Perth and Brisbane which made it a do-or-die Test match in Adelaide. But their inability to hold their nerve and win the key moments cost them dearly in South Australia. Some poor shot-making too was on display with the likes of Harry Brook and Ollie Pope giving their wickets away softly.

Brook was also culpable for two dropped catches - Usman Khawaja when he was on five in the first innings and Travis Head on 99 in the second - which swayed the game away from the Englishmen. Even on Day 2, England bowled short and wide, lacking penetration as Australia's tail wagged to take the hosts to 371 in the first innings.

Stokes admitted that Australia had outplayed them in all three facets of the game consistently over longer durations of time.

"It's quite simple for me, that Australia have been able to execute batting, bowling and fielding a lot more than us on a much more consistent basis. And those are three things that cricket is built around, its scoring runs, taking wickets and catching - they've outdone us on all three of those things. They've just been able to execute everything a lot better than us over a much more consistent period of time.

"We have had moments where we've been very good. But Australia have been a lot better than us on, you know, a much longer over a much longer period of time in the series," Stokes said.

Heading into Day 5, the general opinion was the game would be wrapped up within the first session but to be fair to England, they showed some fight and gritted it out through the trio of Jamie Smith, Will Jacks and Brydon Carse. It could be said that they even showed 'dog' as Stokes had wanted them to display heading into the game.

Stokes felt that some of his players have learnt more about themselves over the past week and he felt there were also a lot of positives to take from the game.

"I think some individuals have probably actually learned a lot more about themselves throughout this week than they did maybe a week or two ago," Stokes said. "There were a lot of positives to be able to take out of this game and for us to be able to build on and take forward, not only into the two games remaining in the series, but also how our cricket looks in the future. We had guys going out there in some pretty high pressure moments and I thought they stood up very, very well."

However, Stokes did say that they still weren't good enough. "This is our best game of cricket so far in this tour, but still not good enough."

After losing three Tests on the bounce, the question on preparation heading into the Ashes was bound to come back but Stokes dismissed it saying that he hates living in hindsight.

"I hate living in hindsight because you can never change what you have done. At the end of the day, what you do out there is what counts and we've not been able to stand up to what Australia have thrown at us.

"All the training, all the hours that we've put into our efforts building up to the series in Australia, even before in Australia, all the hours of grafting and indoor nets and all that kind of stuff that we do. It's what you do out there that matters the most. And we've not been able to stand up to the barrage of executions from Australia."

England will now look to salvage some pride with the next two Tests coming thick and fast with the fourth Ashes Test commencing on December 26 in Melbourne.