England left to lick Ashes defeat wounds

New Delhi: England have nothing but hope to cling on to after Ashes defeat, and in the remaining two Tests of the five-match series would look to count their positives and build on them.

Not only have they failed to wrestle back the urn, they remain without a win in Australia in nearly 15 years and dread the possibility of a whitewash.

England skipper Ben Stokes still believes they can turn around in the remaining two games in Melbourne and Sydney, pointing to their improved batting performance in the seconds innings in third match in Adelaide.

"I think some individuals have probably actually learned a lot more about themselves throughout this week than they did maybe a week or two ago," he said, as quoted by Reuters.

"But there were a lot of positives to be able to take out of this game, and for us to be able to build on and take forward, not only into the two games left in the series, but also how cricket looks in the future.

"We had guys going out there and in some pretty high-pressure moments, and I thought they stood up very, very well. I think some individuals have learned a bit more about themselves this week.

"It's obviously hard to look at it with too much positivity at the moment, because there's a lot of emotion to attach with what's going on and where we are."

England have been second best throughout the series so far, going down by eight wickets in Perth and Brisbane and lost by 82 runs at Adelaide Oval.

Their minimal preparation for the series have been questioned routinely and severely criticised by pundits as their ultra-aggressive ‘Bazball’ batting approach has failed to deliver.

Now that the series is gone, they would try to win a Test in Australia for the first time since victory in Sydney in January 2011, whrn they won the series 3-1.

"I think there's so much more clarity and an understanding about when guys are walking out there to bat or when guys are coming to bowl, about what is needed right now," said Stokes.

"'What do I need to do? And what does my execution need to look like?' But then it's about going out there and delivering that and (if you're) not able to execute that for good enough or long enough, then you get punished."