Disappointed Stokes assesses England's Gabba defeat

THE visitors showed moments of promise but again failed to sustain pressure when the contest tightened in the second Test in Brisbane.

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The defeat also meant that England slipped to seventh in the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 standings.

Since their fifth Ashes Test win in the 2010/11 season, England have failed to win their last 17 Tests in Australia, losing on 15 occasions and drawing two.

While Australia celebrated their clinical execution, England Captain Ben Stokes cut a frustrated figure as he assessed another match where his side faltered in decisive phases, allowing Australia to regain control when the going got tough.

"Very disappointing," exclaimed Stokes post the game.

"A lot of it comes down to not being able to stand up to the pressure of this game, this format, when the game is on the line. In small passages, we've been able to bring the game back into some kind of control and then we've let us slip away.

"We've done that again here this week, and it's very, very disappointing, in particular, because of the ability of the players that we have in that dressing room.

"We need to think a bit harder and deeper about those moments and what we're taking mentally into those, and overall show a bit more fight when it's needed.