‘Call us rubbish, but arrogant is a bit to far’ – Ben Stokes after England’s Perth drubbing

Ashes 2025/26: Ben Stokes during a practice session (Source: Philip Brown/Getty Images)

English Test captain Ben Stokes has urged the critics to not call England’s series-opening performance in the ongoing Ashes as ‘arrogant’. England went down in the first Test of the five-match series by an eight-wicket margin in Perth.

Stokes opined that despite not ending up on the right side of the result, England were “great” during certain stages of the match. He also said that he did not mind if people criticise his team’s execution.

“Look, you can call us rubbish, call us whatever you want. We didn’t have the Test match that we wanted to. We were great in passages of that game, but I think ‘arrogant’ might be a little bit too far. But that’s okay. We’ll take the rough with the smooth. I’d rather words like ‘rubbish’, but ‘arrogant’, I’m not so sure about that,” stated Stokes, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

The ace all-rounder acknowledged the disappointment that the English fans would be carrying after the heavy defeat in the first match. However, he stood firm while clarifying that the primary objective of the team remains to win the series.

“We know that there’ll be a lot of disappointed fans in England after that first defeat. But it’s a five-game series, we’ve got four games to go, we’ve lost the first one – we’re absolutely desperate to come home with that goal from before we even started the series, which is to win the Ashes,” concluded Stokes.

England were bowled out for 172 and 164 in thee two innings in Perth. They could not make the most of the 40-run first innings they gained, as Australia eventually cruised to an eight-wicket victory on the back of a blistering Travis Head ton. Stokes shone with the ball in the first innings with a five-wicket haul to his name.

Mitchell Starc bagged the Player of the Match award for his 10-wicket match haul. The match concluded even before two whole days could conclude. England XI, of which Stokes is not a part of, are currently taking on Prime Minister’s XI in a two-day affair. The second Test of the high-octane series will be a pink-ball encounter, starting from December 4 in Brisbane.

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