Follow UsEngland’s captain Ben Stokes admitted his side had been left “shell-shocked” after the dramatic collapse in the opening Test of the 2025 Ashes in Perth, where Australia mounted a sensational fight-back.
England looked in control early on day two of the Test with a 99-run lead and nine wickets remaining at lunch. However, the match spiralled out of their grasp after the fourth-innings target of 205 was chased down in just 28.2 overs. Central to the turnaround was Australia’s opener Travis Head, whose blistering 123 off 83 balls helped Australia win the game on Day 2 itself.
Stokes said he and his players were still grappling with the shock of how rapidly things had turned. “We’re a little bit shellshocked there,” he said, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.
“That innings from Travis Head was pretty phenomenal. It’s quite raw, quite fresh at the moment, but geez, that was some knock. It’s knocked the wind out of us.”
Reflecting on England’s own approach in the fourth innings, Stokes defended their aggressive style but admitted the execution faltered.
“If you look at the way the game eked out, the guys who seemed to have success out there with bat in hand were the guys who were really brave and took the game on. Anyone who tried to stay around there and try and occupy the crease didn’t really seem to have too much success,” the skipper added.
When asked about how Australia managed to seize the initiative so decisively, Stokes revealed that England’s plans had been repeatedly disrupted by Head’s assault.
“We tried three or four different plans at him. When he was going like a train, those plans can change quite quickly, because those runs were coming down quickly. I’ve seen Travis play a lot of knocks like that, whether it be in Test cricket or white-ball cricket. He’s very hard to stop,” Stokes lamented.
Despite the heavy defeat, Stokes struck a note of resilience, pointing to the earlier part of the Test when England’s bowlers had done the job. “The way in which we bowled yesterday was simply phenomenal,” he said.
“This is a very tough one to get the series going when we felt we were in control of the game… We’ll obviously let this sink in. Obviously, it hurts extremely, but we’ve got four more games to come. We’ll get our heads round and move on to Brisbane, and then hit the ground running there.”
The second Test in Brisbane, starting December 4, will be a pink-ball encounter, presenting another challenge to the English team.