Ashes hammering is a wake-up call for England.

Stokes was one of few players to truly earn their place.

Cricket can be a very fickle affair at times and nobody knows this harsh reality more than Alastair Cook and Andy Flower. 

In late August, England had cemented a 3-0 series win at home and it seemed as though the team and its spirit could not have been better.

And now, just a matter of days before Christmas, England have had to swallow three heavy defeats, with the prospect of a series whitewash beckoning.

A great deal of credit and respect must be handed the Australia before we delve too deeply into England's many failings, and believe me, there are many.

The humiliation facing England will have come as a surprise to quite a few people. But in reality the results which have unfolded are merely a magnification of the problems which have been in the England camp for some time now.

After England had thumped Australia, retaining the Ashes on a dreary day at Old Trafford, the view amongst traditionalists was that we had won the important competition and that the One-Day series and Twenty20 matches were just a 'bonus'.

Fair enough. Ask anybody, 'Would you rather beat the Aussies in a Test or in a knock-about?' and the results would be resoundingly in favour of the former.

But what these matches did do was allow the Aussies to regain confidence. Shane Watson received a battering from the English media about his inability to face James Anderson and when, essentially a 'B Team' was fielded, the Australian camp seized the opportunity to regain their confidence.

The number of changes England made between Test and One-Day cricket was initially celebrated. People were saying things like 'We have such strength in depth, we can field two completely different teams and rest players.'

And to that I say one word. Consistency.

Watson came through his series of LBW dismissals and helped Australia to win the ODI series 2-1 and this meant more to Australia than was properly accounted for at the time.

England came into the second Ashes instalment knowing that they were not going to be handed victory as simply as they had a few months earlier, but the odds were still in favour of England retaining the Ashes.

People were initially worried as to how England would cope with the scorching heat and the bounce of the Australian wickets.

Never fear, we have Steven Finn, Chris Tremlett and Boyd Rankin at our disposal! Three players who were invariably used but were, in all honesty, never really going to be our first choice, as was demonstrated by the ease with which Tim Bresnan came back into the side.

England's policy became very clear. Unless a player was an outstanding outright bowler or batsmen, or captain, they would struggle to get into the team.

Hence, the decision to play Ben Stokes, who proved to be the only glimmer of hope with an impressive 120 in England's second-innings.

England's batting card contained 11 players who could all bat, but very few who were ready to do so, and were served poorly by the modern mentality of every player needing to be able to perform in all three arts.

The Durham all-rounder fitted the bill perfectly. He could clearly bat, although unproven at this level prior to his maiden test century, he was capable of bowling around 90mph and when it came to fielding he worked tirelessly in the heat.

The attitude demonstrated by Stokes is what every England player needed to have. So often you see debutants playing an innings with care and hesitance in order to maintain their place in the team. But Stokes played with a care-free attitude, as well as a lot of application and this served him well.

Stokes was the perfect example for what England wanted in their team, as opposed to what they actually had.

Having said that, it should never have got to the stage where he was needed, or at the very least, with such a lack of certainty over who would fill the void, which he seized with absolute certainty.

The issue however, lies in this aggressive policy exercised by England and no player demonstrates this better than Kevin Pietersen.

A Test innings should demonstrate a cricketers ability to build an innings slowly and this was severely lacking in England's ethos.

Pietersen makes a quick-fire 45, scores a few boundaries with a strike rate approaching 80 and in an ODI this is acceptable. But not in a Test match.

Stokes has fundamentally embarrassed players like Pietersen. Having played over 100 tests you would think by now they would be an example to the younger players, but instead it is the other way round.

When KP finishes an innings lasting no more than an hour and a half he trots back to the dressing room thinking that he has served his team well, but the true heroes are Stokes and Joe Root who can bat for time and try to launch a serious comeback.

When it comes to justifying why England have under-achieved so badly in this series, it is possible to write dozens and dozens of books over the matter, but put quite simply it comes down to their attitude.

Whether thats complacency, self-doubt, poor tactics, the hotel the players are staying in, whatever. The simple truth is that seniority is not installing a great deal of confidence and this has, and will always be, the backbone of a successful team.

England do not strike fear in to the opposition anymore, but if eleven of Ben Stokes walked out on to he field then perhaps the Aussies might be more worried.

Just like Australia in the Summer months, England have become scared, not just because they are losing so heavily, but because they don't know why, or more importantly, how they are going to bounce back.