former pundits puzzled by some of the field placements<\/a>.<\/p>\nThis, O\u2019Keeffe said, was a demonstration of muddled thinking and just one of the areas where England could improve.<\/p>\n
LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE OF \u2018THE FOLLOW ON\u2019 WITH KERRY O\u2019KEEFFE BELOW<\/p>\n
\u201cTactically, the best fields set in the series were by Steve Smith when he captained and the worst fields have been set by Ben Stokes, because he over attacks,\u201d O\u2019Keeffe said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, some of the English were bowling absolute filth, but he gave them attacking fields, and that\u2019s why boundaries (flowed). Australia scored at a faster run rate than the Bazballers. And part of that is to do with Ben Stokes setting fields for good bowling and England bowling badly. <\/p>\n
\u201cBen Stokes will say it\u2019s not my fault, you know, I don\u2019t set fields for bad bowling. But I think he had to consider on a few occasions that things weren\u2019t going well, and he refused to set out fielders when runs were being leaked all over the place. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the best cricket Ben Stokes can play, even though he is a warrior, is when he\u2019s just allowed to play as a contributor. He might say I love being captain, but I\u2019d love to see him play it as a member of the 11, and he can lead by example without the C against his name.\u201d<\/p>\n
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – DECEMBER 21: England captain Ben Stokes shakes hands with Steve Smith of Australia after losing the Third Test Match in the 2025-26 Ashes Series between Australia and England at Adelaide Oval on December 21, 2025 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Gareth Copley\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Stokes was asked in Adelaide whether he had given any thought to his tenure as captain and responded with a \u201cnope\u201d. But he did concede after the Perth loss that he had lacked his usual clarity when trying to command his side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could have been a lot better as captain,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am the person who makes decisions about how we go out there and operate and I am the one who gives the plans to the bowlers. I wasn\u2019t as clear as I normally am. The key thing for me is to be completely crystal clear with my bowlers.\u201d<\/p>\n
SCENES: Australia Retain the Ashes! | 02:01<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With England\u2019s ambitions of reclaiming the urn in tatters, attention has turned to whether the key pillars of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[14206,19904,128797,10086,428,7614,128794,45620,9982,59367,1721,309,128787,591,128792,61475,128796,81752,8222,128793,128790,128788,3604,7618,8106,13110,128795,128791,128789,14205,128798,101,81753,8046,56,54,55,6080,114606,121167],"class_list":["post-329677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-adelaide","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-ashes-selection","tag-ashes-series","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-conditions","tag-australian-spinner","tag-brendon-mccullum","tag-courtney-walsh","tag-cricket","tag-england","tag-english-cricketing-pundits","tag-europe","tag-fields-set","tag-final-day","tag-fox-cricket","tag-gareth-copley","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-jonathan-agnew","tag-keeffe","tag-media-turn","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-pat-cummins","tag-perth","tag-run-rate","tag-setting-fields","tag-shakes-hands","tag-south-australia","tag-spectacular-fails","tag-sports","tag-steven-smith","tag-the-gabba","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-western-australia","tag-wicket-haul","tag-william-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n