‘We crack under pressure’: Ben Stokes lambasts England after 8-wicket drubbing vs Australia in Ashes at Gabba

“We are a great team when we are ahead, when we are behind and playing huge catch-up we are great, but when then game is on the line we are not able to stand up to pressure. That is obvious as a captain. It’s a mentality, a mindset. How you get yourself into a head space to make clear decisions is so important to be successful at this level,” he said.

Having lost the Perth Test in just two days, England failed to put up a fight in Brisbane, losing the Pink-Ball Day-Night Test on the fourth day. England set Australia a paltry target of 65, which the home team chased down in just 10 overs.

Stokes scored a fighting half-century in the second innings and added 96 runs with Will Jacks for the seventh wicket but all England were playing was a catch-up game. England dropped five catches in the first innings and let the home team get a big lead.

‘We weren’t able to execute with bat and ball’

“No-one means to drop catches or not bowl where you are supposed to but those things cannot happen at this level. We knew exactly how we needed to bowl and we weren’t able to do it for a long enough period to put Australia under pressure, that was evident in the way they were able to score so quickly and easily,” reasoned Stokes.

“We weren’t able to execute with bat and ball and we’ll be having some conversations in the dressing room. It seems to be a constant theme that when the pressure is on, Australia keep outdoing us. They say Australia is not a place for weak men and we are definitely not weak but we need to find something,” he added.

The third Test will be played in Adelaide and start on December 17.