Sydney [Australia], January 8 : After his side's England Ashes series loss, England skipper Ben Stokes warned his team of his "ruthless side", saying that the team would not be able to progress unless some "pretty honest and truthful conversations" take place.

England's quest for an Ashes series win Down Under had been finished at Adelaide itself. After snapping an 18-Test winless run in Australia at Melbourne, pride was all England had left to play for. Besides scintillating centuries from Joe Root and Jacob Bethell and a fine 84 in the first innings by Harry Brook, there were very few positives for England, especially with the ball at Sydney's New Year's Test. Despite putting up 384 runs on the board in the first innings and securing a well-fought 159-run lead after the second innings, England could not achieve the 2-3 scoreline that could have let them head back home with their heads high as they crashed to a 4-1 series loss, continuing their poor form in Australia since their 2010/11 Ashes triumph.

Stokes has not featured in any other format since Test cricket since August 2024, a brief stint in The Hundred, which left him injured. After a sub-par series with the bat, averaging below 20 despite two half-centuries and a decent outing with the ball with 15 scalps in five games at an average of just above 25, Stokes has hinted that a revamp in the team's approach and personnel could take place and warned that if the players would not "meet the expectations" going forward in the future, they will know of the "ruthless side" in him.

"How we develop is to be pretty honest and straightforward," Stokes told TNT Sports as quoted by ESPNCricinfo. "You do not progress unless you have some pretty honest and truthful conversations. I remember I was young, and I had some stuff thrown at me that I didn't like, but I can always look back and go, 'I know that was told to me for the right reasons."

"We do not have a Test series until June... That is where it's up to me, up to Brendon McCullum and Rob Key and the guys who sit above the players to put together something that we can just go, 'Right, this is what we expect.' If people are not willing or wanting to meet those expectations, then I have a ruthless side to me," he added.

Having lost the Ashes series within a matter of 11 days, Stokes said that he was really happy with what the team under him and McCullum had achieved in the first couple of years or so, but failed to build on it and started losing more and teams had started to come up with plans to counter-attack their 'Bazball' brand of cricket, focusing on attack, positivity and playing for a result. Also, they are yet to win a big series against India and Australia, having lost to them in a humiliating manner in away conditions and drawing series against them at their home conditions.

"Where we are at the moment is an interesting place for us as a team. What we managed to achieve in the first two, two-and-a-half years [of his tenure] was very good, and then we wanted to build on that. We wanted to grow as a team, and be even more consistent than we were in that," he said.

"If anything, we have done the opposite of that. We have started losing more. We have not won the big series that we want to be winning, and when a trend is happening on a consistent basis in the way that you do not want it to happen, that is when you need to go back and look at the drawing board, and make some adjustments that you think are going to get us back on the path of success again," he added.

Stokes feels that now the opposition has managed to crack the 'Bazball' code after finding it difficult to deal with it for the first two and the half years or so.

"We are now playing against teams who have answers to the style of cricket that we have been playing for quite a long period of time now. In the first couple of years, teams found it difficult to try to come up with anything to combat the way that we played, but now teams are coming up with plans that are actually standing up to a certain style of cricket that we want to play," he said.

Coming to the match, England won the toss and opted to bat first, putting 384 runs on the board with fantastic knocks from Joe Root (160) and Harry Brook. However, English bowlers let the momentum go to waste as Travis Head (163) and Steve Smith (138) cracked bumper tons while Beau Webster also chipped in 71 useful runs to take them to 567 runs, giving them a 183-run lead. Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse took three wickets each for England.

In the second innings, England was kept alive courtesy a masterclass century from all-rounder Jacob Bethell, who hit his first Test match ton, a 265-ball 142. England was skittled out for 342 runs, with Mitchell Starc and Webster getting three wickets and Scott Boland getting two. England set Australia 160 runs to win, having gained a 159-run lead.

While bowling, England did put up a fight, reducing Australia to 121/5, but the target was not enough as Alex Carey (16*) and Cameron Green (22*) took Australia home.

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