Ben Stokes in staggering Bazball call after England's Ashes agony

England captain Ben Stokes is clinging to hope after going down 2-0 in the Ashes series, insisting the predicament is tailor-made for his side's 'Bazball' style. Stokes wrote a new chapter in Ashes folklore with another stunning century for England on day five at Lord's, but it was ultimately not enough as Pat Cummins' Aussie side wrapped up a 43-run win to take a 2-0 series lead.

Alex Carey's controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow - which led to Aussie players such as Usman Khawaja and David Warner being verbally abused by MCC members in the Lord's Long Room - proved the major talking point of day five. England coach Brendon McCullum said he doubted the two sides would sit down for a beer together anytime soon, while Stokes suggested it wasn't in the spirit of cricket - despite being a fair dismissal.

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Cummins and his men said England needed to accept the umpire's ruling and move on, pointing to the controversial catch they had overturned one day earlier. Mitchell Starc's catch off Ben Duckett was overturned after the third umpire deemed he was not in control of his body when the hand carrying the ball brushed along the ground after he'd caught it.

Stokes clearly felt his men were hard done by after the second Test concluded on day five, but refused to accept that victory in the Ashes series was beyond his men. The stark reality for Stokes' side is that only one team in history has come from 2-0 down to win an Ashes - with Sir Donald Bradman inspiring one of the greatest fight backs for Australia in the 1936-37 series.

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Despite history being firmly against them, Stokes says his side's aggressive Bazball approach is actually "perfect" for the dire situation they find themselves in. "It's actually very exciting to know that the way in which we are playing our cricket couldn't be more perfect for the situation we find ourselves in," Stokes said.

"We have to win these three games to get this urn back. We're a team who are willing to put ourselves out there and do things against the narrative.

"Now, these three games are a better opportunity for us than we've ever found ourselves in before. We won 3-0 against New Zealand, we won 3-0 against Pakistan in Pakistan. We've won three games in a row twice, all we're thinking about is winning the series 3-2."

If England are beaten in the third Test at Headingley - which gets underway on Thursday - serious questions will be asked about the team's tactics and apparent obsession with entertaining cricket, sometimes at the expense of common sense. England famously declared at 8-393 in the first innings of the first Test when on top with Joe Root at the crease, and ended up losing by two wickets.

At Lord's they were in a position of power at 1-188 on day two with an injured Nathan Lyon out of the match, before throwing wickets away attacking Australia's short-pitched bowling and being all out for 325. A bullish Stokes has defended the team's approach though, and insists their execution just needs to be better.

"I've got no issues about the way our bowlers went about it, or how our batters went about it," Stokes added. "It's just ... whether our execution (can) get better next time we're in that situation."

with AAP

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