England skipper Ben Stokes fires Ashes warning: ‘Australia is not for weak men’

Defeated England captain Ben Stokes has made it clear there is no room for “weak men” in England’s faltering Ashes tour.

Stokes’ side are 2-0 down with three to play after another deeply flawed performance in Brisbane, and they face this side in one of cricket’s fiercest trips.

After a two-day thrashing in Perth, there are serious question marks over his England team’s ability to respond to the big event and time is running out to find an appropriate response.

Stokes did his best to whip up some fighting spirit on the fourth and final day at the Gabba, batting for almost four hours in a doomed display of defiance that shamed a volatile top order, and had strong words afterwards.

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AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND SECOND TEST FINAL SCORECARD

Soft

“There’s a saying we’ve said a lot here: that Australia is not for weak men,” he said, after seeing the hosts chase down a small target of 65 with eight wickets intact.

“Teams coming to Australia can’t be soft or weak, whatever it may be, because that’s the way it is here, it’s a tough place to come to.

“You can’t come to Australia and be weak, but you can’t be in my dressing room if you are, and none of that is the case.

“We select people based on capabilities and skills, but we also select people based on character and mentality.

“There are obviously a few things that need to be addressed, I think, but deep down we have characters that I know can withstand what we have to do over the next three games.

“Nothing is guaranteed in life and nothing is guaranteed in sports, but as long as you walk out there and think in your head, ‘I’m going to fight here until the end,’ that’s all you can focus on.”

Collapsing

England have blinked at key moments in both matches, too often collapsing into a series of loose blows and failing to consistently produce threatening spells with the ball after an exciting start to the series.

It is a practice that has not escaped Stokes’ attention and will clearly be on the agenda when the side head to the coastal town of Noosa ahead of the third Test in Adelaide.

“There are moments in the game where the pressure is on and the pressure is really boiling, where your character comes out more,” he said.

“Australia continues to outdo us in those moments. At this point we have not been able to cope with what they have thrown at us.”

“If you know it’s not about skill, you probably need to dig a little deeper and find out what it is.

“We’ve all been guilty of it at some point on this tour, where perhaps we let the pressure, the occasion and the circumstances influence our decision-making. The mental side of this game is tough.”

Heap

England have nine days to bounce back before hostilities resume and know they need to be close to perfect now if they want to take the urn home in the new year.

Only one team in history, Donald Bradman’s Australian class of 1936-37, has ever overturned a 2-0 deficit to win a five-match winning streak. England, meanwhile, have not won a Test on Australian soil since 2010-11, losing 15 and drawing two.

Stringing together a hat-trick of wins in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney is highly unlikely, but not impossible.

“It’s a huge series that has been in the works for a long time; we still have the opportunity to do what we came here to do,” Stokes said.

“If we lose hope, we might as well not show up. I haven’t lost hope, that dressing room hasn’t lost hope and I will do everything I can as captain to make sure everyone is as positive as possible.”

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