Stokes determined to bounce back from Perth setback

Australia’s dominant win at Perth gave England plenty to think about, but their captain Ben Stokes isn’t giving up on his dreams of becoming the first England skipper to win the Ashes Down Under since Andrew Strauss' victory in 2010-11.

“We know that there'll be a lot of disappointed fans in England after that first defeat,” Stokes told reporters.

“But it's a five-game series, and we've got four games to go. We've lost the first one, we're absolutely desperate to come home with that goal from before we even started the series, which is to win the Ashes.”

Plenty of suggestions have come from past greats for England to remain in contention at Perth, including adding variety to their bowling lineup.

Stokes chose to concentrate on the positives, the fact that his side gained a handy first-innings lead and at one stage were steering towards a massive third innings advantage, while also adding that the team had identified ‘moments’ where they fell back in the game.

“We did some amazing things in that [Perth] Test. The way we bowled in the first innings, and we were 100 for 1 [in the third innings], and put a score on the board that we felt was definitely defendable.

“We all know, and have looked back on it, that there were moments in that game where we could have been a lot better to help us gain even more of an advantage.”

Stokes also defended his side’s tactics, stating that they were ready to adapt as per the situation, and were not merely looking to play all-out attacking cricket.

“The important thing we need to do as a team and as individuals is learn from it [the defeat]. We have identified those moments, spoken about them as a group, that's what we need to do. In terms of execution, could we have been better at executing what we want to do, definitely.

“But again, we have a mindset of playing the game, which is looking to put the opposition under pressure, but also absorbing pressure. Sometimes when you go out there and make a decision, it doesn't always pay off or work the way you want it to.

“That's the key for the rest of this tour, staying true to the beliefs of how we play our cricket. But also, we do know we could have been a lot better in certain ways.”

There has been plenty of chat around the fact that England haven’t sent their first-choice players to feature in the day-night fixture at Canberra ahead of the day-night Test.

Stokes clarified the reasoning behind the call.

“We have a pink-ball match coming up in Brisbane, and we have an opportunity to play some pink-ball cricket. When you look at it just like that, I don't want to say it makes sense, but I totally understand it.

“But there's obviously a lot more to it than just that. That's where it is, in Canberra, which is a different state from Brisbane. The conditions are obviously going to be completely different to what we are going to have coming up.

“So you take all the factors into consideration, the pros and cons, whatever it may be. You always discuss that and decide what we think is the best preparation. We have a few more days off than we planned after that Test. We had to go away and ask how we use these next few days wisely in order to be prepared for what it will be like in Brisbane.”

The second Ashes Test will be played from 4 December. The series carries important ICC World Test Championship standing points.