Former England captain Sir Alastair Cook has said that England’s current situation in the 2025-26 Ashes series must make captain Ben Stokes drill some “home truths” into the players. The former opening batter spoke about how angry Stokes looked after losing the second Test match, adding that he cannot deliver for the side in pressure situations all the time.
“I think for the first time in his captaincy career, some home truths are going to be said to players. Whether he does that publicly in the group as a changer or individually, he’s had enough of seeing his players not performing to their potential. And you can see that was anger,” Cook said on TNT Sports.
“He delivers goods all the time, and he’s seeing others; he can’t do it every single moment. That’s impossible,” he added.
The former left-hander admitted that Stokes was now hoping for other batters to stand up and be counted, adding that it was the captain who bore the brunt of defeats more than others in the team.
“He wants other people to do it. So that’ll be the first time he’ll be uncomfortable in the changing room. You don’t get many times the captain to do it because you lose, you lose the effect of it,” Cook said.
Cook’s former teammate, Sir James Anderson, said that players within the England dressing room would be aware that they had not done well, and they would be hurting after the two defeats.
“You have to take criticism. That’s part of the job. I think also there’ll be players in there that know they’ve not performed well enough and expect criticism. Like when you don’t perform, especially in an Ashes series as a player, you know you’re going to get criticism, whether it’s from the media, whether it’s from the coaches, or your captain. And I think a lot of them will be hurting inside,” he said.
The third Test match of the series will start at Adelaide on December 17.
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