noted by The Telegraph\u2019s Oliver Brown.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThe suffering of Ben Stokes shone a light on his team\u2019s torment in this Ashes series, with his colossal spirit coming at a price for his creaking body in a forlorn and surely futile quest,\u201d Brown wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the best part of three sessions he had jutted his chest out and weathered the searing Adelaide heat to kindle a few embers of hope, only to see them extinguished by a parade of part-time off-spinners going for five an over. <\/p>\n
\u201cSelf-preservation is the least of the England captain\u2019s priorities, especially when he scents a comeback. But as he withdrew himself from the bowling attack on another torrid day in the field, this born fighter looked as though he had little more to give.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 34, Stokes knows this is, in all likelihood, his final tour of Australia. And there is now the awful possibility that he could retire without winning a single Test, never mind a series, Down Under.\u201d<\/p>\n
“I still believe there’s an opportunity” | 10:25<\/p>\n
With the English top order failing time and time again, Stokes kept his side alive with gutsy knocks in Brisbane and Adelaide. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s then picked up key wickets with the ball and on top of that, he\u2019s got a field to set and tactics to constantly implement as captain.<\/p>\n
Fox Cricket\u2019s Isa Guha says Stokes\u2019 lion-hearted nature means the fact he didn\u2019t bowl on Day 3 is likely due to an injury \u201cniggle\u201d rather than a fatigue issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is clearly a niggle. There is clearly a reason he is not bowling. He went off the field at one stage and he was having a look at his right groin at one stage on the field. That is not good news,\u201d Guha said.<\/p>\n
With another Ashes defeat in Australia all but confirmed, heads will roll at the ECB.<\/p>\n
What it means for coach Brendon McCullum and his assistants is unclear but mass changes should be made according to former England quick Darren Gough.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was Australia\u2019s weakest team, everybody was saying it, yet we could be down 3-0,\u201d Gough said on talkSPORT. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe only one who survives for me in management would be Ben Stokes, let\u2019s be serious about it. <\/p>\n
\u201cBen Stokes has proven to be a hero, a top player but you\u2019re only as good as your team and if you\u2019re losing, the captain is the one who takes the blame. I think the captain survives this no matter what because he\u2019s such a good leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fourth day of the third Test gets underway at 10:30 AEDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England are on the brink of a demoralising and embarrassing Ashes series defeat \u2013 and there\u2019s a chance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18761,11638,64,63,689,18580,196199,101243,14675,651,11096,196197,196195,1208,24160,196192,2057,9564,196194,196198,17071,2105,196196,24270,120441,185597,34809,3583,677,24820,12850,701,196191,44219,196193,171773,85,44867,196190],"class_list":["post-359299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alex-carey","tag-ashes-series","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-side","tag-ben-stokes-injury","tag-bowling-attack","tag-brendon-mccullum","tag-brisbane","tag-daniel-nuttall","tag-darren-gough","tag-dominant-day","tag-england","tag-england-v","tag-english-top-order","tag-europe","tag-european-central-bank","tag-final-tour","tag-futile-quest","tag-gareth-copley","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-grim-stat","tag-home-side","tag-isa-guha","tag-near-impossible-task","tag-newspaper-editor","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-oliver-brown","tag-piers-morgan","tag-queensland","tag-series-defeat","tag-series-whitewash","tag-single-ball","tag-social-media-site","tag-sports","tag-travis-head","tag-weakest-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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