"We shouldn’t be surprised by Jack Leach and Ben Stokes' struggles with the ball" - Sir Alastair Cook on the pair's outing at the Gabba

Former England captain Sir Alastair Cook has dissected the English team's dismal performance in the first Ashes Test in Brisbane. Sir Alastair Cook highlighted the lack of game time behind their underwhelming outings en route to a nine-wicket loss.

England conceded a 1-0 lead in the five-match series as Australia outplayed them across all departments. The tourists' first-innings total of 147 set the wheels in motion for Australia's dominant victory. The hosts took a 278-run lead in the first innings and had to chase only 20 runs to win the match in the last innings.

Writing in his column for The Times, Sir Alastair Cook highlighted that England hardly played red-ball cricket before this series. Cook also wrote about the bowling performances of Jack Leach and Ben Stokes.

"It’s a similar story for the bowlers. Neither Jack Leach nor Ben Stokes did much, if any, proper bowling in the English summer, never mind in the period since, so we shouldn’t be surprised by their struggles with the ball."

Seamer Stokes and left-arm spinner Leach were perhaps the two most expensive bowlers in the match. The pair leaked 167 runs in 25 overs collectively, with Leach accounting for the wicket Marnus Labuschagne. Hence, the left-arm spinner is unlikely to keep his place for the Adelaide Test.

Sir Alastair Cook underlines the importance of practice matches

Cook, who was instrumental in England's Ashes triumph of 2010-11 Down Under, stated how decisive the three warm-up matches were. England's leading Test run-getter wrote in this regard:

"This is critical stuff, especially when I think back to 2010-11. Yes, I had one of the most productive series of my life but in the first tour match, I had scores of 5 and 9. I needed those first few innings to get the nerves and anxiety out of the way and my eye back in. When no one in the England team has had that kind of preparation, you end up getting bowled out for 147."

Cook scored a staggering 766 runs in the 2010-11 Ashes series as the tourists registered a 3-1 victory. As for the current England squad, they only had one practice game which was shortened due to persistent showers.