Stokes annoyed as ‘pretty much perfect’ England show not sufficient
B
en Stokes admits the Ashes being ripped away by rain is a “tough pill to swallow” however insists England couldn’t have accomplished extra to power a sequence decider on the Oval.
Australia have retained the Urn after the ultimate day of the Fourth Test at Old Trafford was washed out without a ball being bowled, the draw that means that the holders’ 2-1 lead is now unassailable with just one recreation to play.
The menace of poor weekend climate was clear going into the Test, with Stokes confirming his group have been able to speed up the sport in a bid to power a consequence.
Having received the toss, the England captain ceded first use of a good pitch to Australia, bowled them out for 317 after which stormed to a wholesome first-innings benefit with a mammoth rating of 592 introduced up at a price of five-and-a-half runs per-over.
England took 4 top-order wickets on the third night to shut on victory however with only one session performed throughout the ultimate two days, the house facet run out of time, Marnus Labuschagne’s defiant hundred retaining Australia within the contest.
“We did literally everything we possibly could and sometimes ‘Mother Cricket’, the weather doesn’t help us, we can’t change that,” Stokes stated.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow, knowing that’s the reason we sit here with a draw. But we’ve done everything we possibly could in the hours of play we managed to get. We were completely and utterly dominant throughout the hours of play we had.
“The first two games we lost we obviously played some brilliant cricket in those games and we played some cricket that we knew we could have been better at. But in this game I can’t actually look back and think we could have been better there because we were pretty much perfect throughout the whole game.”
That such a gripping sequence has finally been determined by two days of abysmal climate has unsurprisingly began debate over whether or not reserve days needs to be in place for Tests of this magnitude, and even whether or not a drawn sequence – the least Australia will obtain – needs to be sufficient for the holders to retain the Urn. Stokes, nonetheless, stated he had no concern with the sport’s parameters as they’re.
“In terms of reserve days, I probably wouldn’t be on that side saying there should be,” Stokes stated. “Test cricket is five days. I understand there being a reserve day for the World Test Championship final because you obviously want there to be a winner at the end of that but I don’t see there ever being a reserve day for Test matches in a series like this.”
England wanted a win at Old Trafford to arrange a sequence decider on the Oval
/ PAOn holders retaining the Urn with a draw, he added: “Look, that’s always been the way it is. It is what it is, we know we can’t get it back, all we can do is draw the series and that is what we’ll be trying to do.”
Australia captain Pat Cummins additionally admitted his facet’s retention following a recreation wherein they have been largely outplayed felt like “a bit of a strange one” and instantly set his sights on successful the sequence outright.
Cummins was a part of the facet that retained the Ashes with victory at Old Trafford 4 years in the past, solely to lose the ultimate Test on the Oval as England escaped with the comfort of a 2-2 draw, and the motivation of turning into the primary Australian group to win in England since 2001 stays.
“We’re proud we’ve retained the Ashes but it’s off the back of not our greatest week,” Cummins stated. “It’s a similar group to 2019 when we retained and we all came away feeling okay but that we’d just missed out on what we’d come over to achieve. Whatever happened today wouldn’t change how we look at next week because we want to win it outright.
“I don’t think there’s going to be huge celebrations [tonight]. A bit of a pat on the back for retaining the series, because a lot of work has gone into getting to the position where a draw is enough to retain but there’s a Test match starting in three days so that’ll be the full focus.”