Fighting through Ashes whitewash wreckage excited me as England captain, but Ben Stokes won't let it go that far - Sir Alastair Cook Column
Updated 23/12/2025 at 09:18 GMT
In his latest TNT Sports column, Sir Alastair Cook delivers his verdict on Australia's quick-fire Ashes series win. Ben Stokes is staring down the barrel of a whitewash as England captain - with Sir Alastair holding a unique vantage point having been in the same position 12 years ago. Watch the fourth Test from Melbourne exclusively live on TNT Sports and discovery+, from 23:30 on December 25.
Highlights: Australia wrap up Ashes series win as England's record chase falters
Video credit: TNT Sports
Ex-England captain Sir Alastair Cook is providing his insight and analysis for TNT Sports throughout the 2025/26 NRMA Insurance men's Ashes. Here is his latest column following the third Test in Adelaide, in which he reflects on his own experience as skipper of a 5-0 series loss in Australia, and why Ben Stokes is well-equipped to avoid the same fate. Watch every ball of the Ashes live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
---
Fighting through wreckage excited me - but Stokes won’t let it get that far
I had my go at it, and it’s the hardest place to be.
I hope they don’t fall apart like we fell apart towards the end of the 2013/14 tour - though this side seems more mentally equipped than we were.
Your end goal is lost, the reason you set out on that tour. You’ve got to be really careful you don’t take the easy option as a player. You’ve mentally got to still be in that battle.
If there was ever a person who won’t allow the next two games to drift, it’s Ben Stokes.
There’s something about Ben Stokes that will make sure England are as close as they can be to their maximum mental state.
He will be hurting, there’s no doubt about it. It’s a really, really hard tour to be captain when things are going badly. His performances, with the bat in particular, have been decent, so it hasn’t affected him so far.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/12/21/image-48df7cb1-4da0-420e-94f2-bb566cdc45cf-85-2560-1440.jpeg)
'Execution hasn't been anywhere near good enough' - Stokes
Video credit: TNT Sports
When I was there in 2013/14 and we lost the Ashes, the weight of the world was on my shoulders.
You try to put a brave face on for everybody else. They are looking at you, naturally, as the leader of the group. The responsibility lies with you. I found I had to bluff my way through.
I desperately didn’t want a 5-0 above my captaincy. I didn’t want us to be embarrassed in the last two games, even though I could sense it was falling apart. It wasn’t as bad as everyone said it was, but it wasn’t great.
It’s a tough two weeks. You’ve got Christmas and New Year, everyone else is happy to be in Melbourne and Sydney, everyone you meet is buzzing - but you’ve got this weight on your shoulders as the captain, 3-0 down in the series.
It’s not a comfortable place, but you’ve just got to fight your way through it. I hope Ben has enough support from everybody in the group to help him through it. I’ll be intrigued to see how they go.
Whether you lose 3-2, 4-1 or 5-0 is largely irrelevant: you’ve lost the Ashes. Watching the opposition pick up the urn, it’s all a bit surreal.
You’re so desperate to have been in their shoes, thinking they’re going to have the best couple of days ever as a side. It’s why you play - that shared experience with teammates when you win.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/12/21/image-84a36313-1a57-446f-a922-c87183fbc5a2-85-2560-1440.jpeg)
The winning moment as Australia clinch Ashes glory in just 11 days
Video credit: TNT Sports
You sit there thinking, ‘we’re not getting that, we don’t deserve to get it’. It strengthened my resolve as a leader, thinking about what I needed to do to the side.
It made me excited knowing we’re at rock-bottom now. How can I take this side into 2015 in the best place to take the urn back off them? That was my motivation.
I knew I didn’t want to quit then as a captain. I wanted to fight through the wreckage and rebuild a side. I got very excited about that.
Australia exceptional when heat is on - unlike England
Let’s give credit to Australia. I think for them to come in and win in 11 days of cricket is a great effort.
Especially with the build-up - the way they were getting doubted - to put in performances like that, to put the series to bed at the earliest opportunity, was exceptional.
The bowling on Day 2 of that game, in 40-degree heat, I thought was exceptional. You wouldn’t have known it was 40 degrees unless you were there. I can’t really remember too many bad balls or too many released shots.
They were below par in that first innings - look how many soft dismissals there were from the Australian batting line-up. I genuinely thought in that heat on that flat wicket that England would go past them.
This is the time when England’s batters on flat wickets are normally really hard to stop. But they never let England get anywhere - I wouldn’t know where to go to start scoring against them. That was sensational.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/12/19/image-25db9bf6-f091-45ea-b754-52dc50ef3400-85-2560-1440.jpeg)
Huge wicket as Starc takes 'livid' Stokes again
Video credit: TNT Sports
Australia have been the better side in these three games. You can’t argue that in any way: they’ve batted better, bowled better and fielded better than England. You just have to doff your cap yet again in Australia, in those conditions.
I didn’t quite buy into critics saying it was a poor Australia side, but I did think there were weaknesses, certainly in the batting line-up, and I did think there was potentially an injury-prone nature to the bowling attack.
That injury-prone nature has been proven right. But the batting frailties, I just don’t think England have bowled well enough, consistently enough, to expose them.
The only time they bowled well was in that first innings in Perth, and Australia did look fragile. Apart from that, England haven’t bowled up to their potential and Australia’s batting is as strong as it needed to be.
I’m sure they’ve mentioned the criticism, but you don’t ever really play to prove people wrong. As a side, you might speak about it, but you’re playing for the biggest prize in Test cricket.
The Australians have won the bigger moments, they won moments when they needed to put a performance in, when the game was in the balance.
Whatever’s been thrown at them, someone or the team have found a way of dealing with it. That’s why they’ve won.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/12/22/image-d4f9df6a-7e4b-4eed-b96d-b8cc51069908-85-2560-1440.jpeg)
'Fulfilling' to silence 'a lot of comments' from pundits - Starc
Video credit: TNT Sports
Now, you might ask whether Australia won the big moments, or if England have been poor to not capitalise, or not handle the pressure.
I thought Ben Stokes’ interview at the end of the second Test match, where he said "we’re a great team when ahead, not when the game is on the line", was a really fair reflection of the series.
It was certainly an improved performance in the last two days with the bat and the ball - but it goes back to when they’re so far behind, they perform.
Six wickets down and 228 runs behind, they batted nicely. It’s the same old adage. When the game was in the balance, they didn’t respond.
No excuse for Brook wicket - but he is an extraordinary talent
The last hour of Day 4 was a crucial hour England needed to win, and they didn’t. To get close to 435, somebody needs to get a hundred. They absolutely had opportunities - especially when Zak Crawley and Harry Brook were in there.
In the morning on Day 5, just as they were getting themselves back in the game, Jamie Smith was playing really well but he played another poor shot. It’s the first shot he tried to slog. It was premeditated.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/12/21/image-effcb55a-76d5-4bb1-89dc-efe5b6f84885-85-2560-1440.jpeg)
Smith gets overexcited, key wicket falls shortly after half-century
Video credit: TNT Sports
It’s a way of being inconsistent, unfortunately. He played beautifully, he played aggressively. The Pat Cummins shot he played over his head was risky, but it was way more controlled than the shots he played at the start.
On Brook, people say if you applaud the reverse sweep that goes for four, you have to accept the reverse sweep when he gets out. I don’t buy that.
If you play the reverse sweep to the correct ball, then it’s fine. If it’s part of the game plan and it’s the right ball to play, absolutely.
The ball Brook got out to was a great ball by Nathan Lyon. He might have had a sixth sense so dragged his length down, bowled it shorter and straighter. Brook had to drag it from leg stump to play the reverse sweep - the other five he played, the ball was fuller and on a slightly wider line, so it’s fine.
If he had mis-executed a reverse sweep from exactly the same area and same ball, I don’t have a problem with it. That’s just poor execution - that’s batting.
The shot he got out to was the same shot but to a different ball - therefore, you can say it’s a bad shot. The art of batting is always to play the right shots.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/12/20/image-626beea4-46b9-4c07-9f98-be4d54019035-85-2560-1440.jpeg)
Big wicket for Lyon as Brook perishes on reverse-sweep attempt
Video credit: TNT Sports
Harry Brook is an extraordinary cricketer. The reason everyone talks so much about him is that he is one of those players who does play extraordinary shots and does get out in different ways.
That’s the nature of the beast when you’re as talented as he is, when you’ve got all the shots.
That’s part and parcel of being a maverick player, that people do talk about you. He’s one of the fastest ever to 3000 runs, averaging 55. He’s an extraordinary talent.
Why Christmas and Boxing Day can be a big boost
Boxing Day is an incredible experience. Most of those players haven’t played a Boxing Day Test match, and most could be back for this Melbourne Test in four years’ time.
They can use that kind of experience - Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Will Jacks, Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse - as motivation.
Jamie Smith had a poor couple of games to start with, but if he has a good couple now, he will use this experience of an Ashes series away and the India series at home.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/12/21/image-a49bd74d-165c-4fe6-9654-bab6511300db-85-2560-1440.jpeg)
'I would have walked straight to my hotel' - Langer criticises Smith shot selection
Video credit: TNT Sports
Those 10 Test matches age you as a player, but your development goes through the roof - for the right kind of player.
Some players run away from it and don’t want to be part of it again. For other people, it does the opposite: ‘that was so hard, but I now know under the biggest pressure, in the biggest series, what I need to work on.’
Christmas Day itself is good fun. In the morning you do a bit of training, then a few hours in the afternoon you can allow yourself to enjoy.
You’re surrounded by the families. I remember looking around when we did it - a big team room in the hotel, there’s 150 people there, and it is good fun.
Obviously you’re not drinking a huge amount at all, you might have the odd glass of champagne but nothing stupid.
Seeing kids run around at Christmas, it does remind you that there are a lot bigger things in life than an Ashes series - even though it doesn’t quite seem like it at the time.
---
Watch every ball of the Ashes live on TNT Sports and discovery+
Thoughts?
Advertisement
Advertisement