England captain Ben Stokes has absolutely flamed his team in a media offensive after they went 2-0 down in the Ashes series against Australia.
The English are reeling after losing both of the first two Tests by eight wickets as the Aussies established their dominance in the five-Test series.
Questions have been asked over the mental strength of the England, with their skipper Stokes choosing to lean into the narrative and insinuate some of his players have been 'weak men' so far in the series.
"There is a saying we have said a lot here - Australia is not for weak men," Stokes told the BBC after England's defeat.
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"A dressing room that I am captain of is not a place for weak men either. We need to dig deep. I need to dig deep.
"When you come to Australia you can’t be below your best. You need to make sure you seize every opportunity.
"In this Test match there were a few moments we had the ascendancy with the bat and we let that slip. And there were times when we didn’t execute with the ball as well as we should have. Clearly our catching was an issue as well.
"It is very hard to beat Australia at home if you are going to be deficient in all those three areas as well."
Stokes also claimed his team were struggling to handle the pressure in a brutally honest quote.
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"When the game is on the line, (other) teams are able to handle that pressure better than us," Stokes stated to Channel 7.
"They are all incredibly talented players but if you can’t put it down to a skill thing you start to wonder ‘What is it?’ Do we need to start thinking about what mentality we are taking into these pressure moments?
"When we are on top, we are great, and when behind the game we are also very good, but when the moment is neck and neck, we are not coming out on top on enough occasions.
"When the game is in a moment of neither here nor there, Australian have managed to get through those periods and outdo us."
The third Ashes Test in Adelaide begins on Wednesday, December 17.