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Alastair Cook: "It's a tough time"

Alastair Cook says that he cannot explain England's lacklustre performance in The Ashes.

Alastair Cook has said that he is at a loss to explain why England are performing so badly in The Ashes series against Australia.

The Aussies will take a 4-0 lead into the fifth and final Test match in Sydney next week after completing an eight-wicket victory in Melbourne.

"It's difficult, a tough time," Cook told Channel 9. "We got an opportunity to win this game, but we've shown our level of confidence. We let it slip.

"Everyone is going to ask questions which I don't have the answers to. If I did, I would tell the players and it would make a difference on the pitch. I don't think there's a like of fight, it's a lack of skills at crucial times.

"The only way to stop it is to change things in the middle. We need a magic performance and for someone to drag the rest of us with it. We might need fresh minds. When you lose games of cricket it doesn't get easier. It's a tough dressing room to be in."

Australia beat England 5-0 in 2007.

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England's paceman Ben Stokes approaches his bowling mark against Australia during day two of the second Ashes Test cricket match in Adelaide on December 6, 2013
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