It was a Test series that left everyone wanting for more. The two sets of players would’ve preferred a win obviously, but England captain Ben Stokes would concede at the end of The Oval Test – that saw England level the series 2-2 – that the final scoreline was fitting to the way the series had been contested.
“Feel really good. 2-2 is a fair reflection at the end of the series,” Stokes said after fifth Test. “Australia, WTC champions, absolute quality team. Don’t think many teams would’ve been able to respond like we did after being 2-0 down. Very proud of the entire team and the effort they put in. Having played a lot of cricket here, you know what it’s like in the 4th innings. Australia played really well yesterday but turning up here and knowing that you still need 250 runs is really tough. The wickets came in clusters like they usually do. Our mentality was great.”
Australia skipper, Pat Cummins also agreed to his counterpart’s assessment. ” I think so (that 2-2 is a fair result). Two really high quality teams and it was a wonderful series to be part of. I didn’t even entertain the conversation of a draw, we were here to win the Ashes and it was a great day of Test cricket. We can be hugely proud of retaining the Ashes, not easy to do that against a quality England side. There were so many moments in this series, that’s what makes Ashes so special, the crowd and the pressure, a couple of moments if you could change then the result would have been different.”
sDay five of the fifth Test saw Australia being bundled out for 334 while chasing 384 and having started the day with all ten wickets intact at the score of 135.
Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali would lead the England comeback with the ball as they shared seven wickets between them to help the hosts complete a series comeback having lost the first two Tests.
Praises for the farewell man
The two sets of skippers were also all praises for Stuart Broad, who had announced earlier that this would be his last cricket outing.
The man of the moment would star at the closing stages at The Oval as he managed to remove the final two Australian wickets as the proverbial roof blew off the venue with that final edge and caught behind of Alex Carey.
“I’ve played with Broad for a long long time, he’s been an unbelievable performer for England. To watch him has been amazing. There was no doubt he was going to pick up those two wickets,” Stokes said.
“Great competitor, always saves his best for Australia, he has had some hard days in Australia but always keeps coming and I wish him all the best,” Cummins added on the 37-year-old.
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