‘The dream is now over,’ England captain Ben Stokes reacts to crushing Ashes defeat

England Test captain Ben Stokes said the dream of winning an Ashes Down Under is over after his team lost the third Test at the Adelaide Oval by 82 runs on Sunday morning. Needing over 200 runs with just four wickets remaining, England’s lower-order and tail did grind through the first session but failed to hold onto their wickets as the Aussies wrapped them up on 352 to win the Test and retain the Ashes. Stokes, who got out to a beauty off Nathan Lyon late on day four, admitted feeling disappointed with the result, adding that everyone is hurt and that it sucks to concede the Ashes inside 11 days.

"That dream is now over, which is incredibly disappointing. Everyone is hurting and quite emotional about it. It hurt, it sucks, but we aint going to stop,” Stokes’ first reaction after England lost the third Test on day five at the Adelaide Oval.

Although England showed the stomach for a fight late in their innings, Stokes feels that they were not as consistent in executing their plans the way the Australians were, pointing out the difference between the two teams.

“Australia have just been able to execute things more consistently than us...we've shown it in passages. Thought we were on for another heist when Jamie and Will were going.

Captain Stokes also lamented the opportunity to score big after restricting Australia to a modest first-inning total, further putting it down to his batters’ failed attempt at chasing the target the dressing room believed they could.

“Losing the toss, bowling, keep Australia to under-par score, and not being able to respond with the bat when we had an opportunity to put a big score on the board...we were confident we had a good chance of chasing it down, it was a very good wicket. Losing those three wickets at the backend of yesterday set us back. That stuff I wanted to see, I've seen that this week. Think we can take a lot from this game. We've got so much more to play for,” he continued.

The visitors, however, have plenty to play for in the remaining two matches, with avoiding a series whitewash at the top on their priority list.