{"id":363310,"date":"2025-12-21T22:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T22:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/363310\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T22:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T22:27:10","slug":"england-captain-ben-stokes-torn-to-shreds-for-discussing-coin-tosses-after-ashes-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/363310\/","title":{"rendered":"England captain Ben Stokes torn to shreds for discussing coin tosses after Ashes failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

England captain Ben Stokes has been torn to shreds for a bizarre answer shortly after the tourists slumped to their third loss from as many Ashes<\/a> Tests.<\/p>\n

An emotional Stokes admitted great hurt at watching Australia retain the Ashes inside 11 days of cricket<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But while Stokes has been praised for showing more fight than some of his teammates throughout the series, his answer to a routine question raised a lot of eyebrows.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

When asked what he could have done differently in the first three Tests, Stokes mentioned the coin tosses in a sarcastic manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalled heads first two (coin tosses) and won this one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For the record, Stokes won the first two tosses and chose to bat first both times.<\/p>\n

\"BenBen Stokes says despite an Ashes loss, England’s so-called Bazball revolution isn’t over just yet. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

Whether it was intended as a joke or not, the comment did not go down well on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot so sure sarcasm is a good look after you\u2019ve been beaten up by \u2018the worst Australian team for years\u2019,\u201d one fan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Brit I love stokes but wtf is he going on about. How about preparing correctly, picking the right team and so on? Congrats to AUS. 2010\/2011 will be our one off anomaly,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcuses? Good to see he is learning from the coach,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n

\u201cImplying another reason for losing that wasn\u2019t their fault. Look inward mate, the reason you lost is there,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch a likeable cricketer on the field and most Aussies I know love him but the disrespect for his opponents this year and these types of excuses are disappointing from Stokesy,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be cracking too many jokes leading your team into a 5-0 drubbing,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n

Stokes went on to say there had only been three problems for England: being outplayed in batting, bowling and fielding by the Australians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have outdone us on all three of those things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the plans that work out here … we have just not been able to execute those plans for long enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have just completely out-executed us with all three facets of the game of cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean the ultra-aggressive Bazball approach under coach Brendon McCullum and Stokes will be scrapped.<\/p>\n

\u201c(We\u2019re) making sure that we aren\u2019t restricting people\u2019s mindset towards how they best feel that they\u2019re going to be successful for the team,\u201d Stokes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never want to take away their ability to go out and score their runs in the way that they feel is best going to suit them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then, marrying the skills and the ability that they have with the mentality that it takes to be successful as an international sportsman.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou put those two together and I know that we\u2019ve got a very, very exciting Test team who can be even more successful than we have been over the last four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stokes dismissed questions over England\u2019s preparations for the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate living in hindsight because you can never change what you have done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, what you do out there (on-field) is what counts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we have not been able to stand up to what Australia have thrown us … the barrage of execution from Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

But why could England in Adelaide show the fight that was lacking in the initial two Tests?<\/p>\n

\u201cGod, I don\u2019t know,\u201d Stokes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re 2-0 down, knowing you need to win that game, maybe that brings, I don\u2019t know, five ,10 per cent more out of people that they didn\u2019t know they had.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously easy to be able to say: \u2018Well, why wasn\u2019t that shown in the first two games?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

– With AAP<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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3 min read<\/p>\n

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