Mark Stoneman: “Personally, it’s been pretty disappointing”

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Mark Stoneman has been one of England’s best performers in the ongoing Ashes series, but despite this, he is disappointed with his contributions with the bat.

The opener has accumulated 193 runs in the first three Tests, which includes two half-centuries, at an average of 32.16.

However, he admitted that his tally of runs is nothing in comparison to Australia captain Steve Smith, who has scored 426 runs at an average of 142.

“Personally, it’s been pretty disappointing because I’ve made starts in a lot of innings and the examples set by the Australians is that we need big scores, we need three-figure scores,” Stoneman said. “We made fifties in the first couple of Tests and they managed to make hundreds, that proved to be the difference. Here [Perth] we’ve had a couple of hundreds and they’ve had doubles.

“So from that point of view it has been pretty frustrating that I’ve not been able to make the bigger contributions that set us up on the platform to make five or six hundred which really gives you the foothold in the game.”

With England already having lost the Ashes, Stoneman is hoping to put up a big score during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne to help his side avoid a series whitewash.

“I can’t wait. There are experiences in world cricket that everybody would like to be a part of and a Boxing Day Test is certainly one of those,” the 30-year-old said. “Obviously it’s not ideal going there 3-0 down but at the same time once the disappointment has settled we can look to the next challenge and what better way to bounce back than to perform well in the Boxing Day Test.”