New dawn, new regime in wake of Ashes humiliation

England reined in their usual no-holds-barred approach, but while Ben Stokes's captaincy may survive, the philosophy behind it will not, writes Cameron Ponsonby in Adelaide

- Cameron Ponsonby

Sometimes, relationships come to an end.

England, a very modern cricket team, have been in bed with three men for the best part of four years: Rob Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. Stokes has been the frontman. And in the early days, it was McCullum who reined him in. Stokes wanted to go bigger, better, madder and further.

“There was a bit of me that wanted them to get 450, just to see what we'd do,” Stokes said after England chased 378 against India in 2022. At the beginning, Stokes elected himself as the lunatic-in-chief, charging down the wicket early in his innings to show his men that this is how far we can take it. There's nothing to fear. Commit and be all in.

England, and Stokes, abandoned that in Adelaide. The consequence-free cricket they've played for so long was replaced with clamours to “fight” and that Stokes's dressing room was “no place for weak men”.

They still lost - but they did so in a way that was more palatable to the masses, with a nod to the future of what England fans can expect from this team.

“I think there's a lot of stuff as a team that we can actually take forward with us,” Stokes said following defeat.

“Obviously, it's a pretty emotional time for me in the dressing room and the guys, players, management, backroom staff. But when we get ourselves together... I think we will take a lot out of this game and go, ‘this is how we can maybe apply ourselves to give us a better chance of being a much more consistent cricket team.’”