Australia captain Pat Cummins insists his aspect’s ambition to win a Test series in England stays undimmed after they retained the Ashes in a rain-marred draw at Old Trafford.
Persistent rain meant Sunday’s ultimate day of the fourth Test was washed out and not using a ball bowled as England have been denied the prospect of a series-levelling win in a match that they had dominated.
The outcome ensured Australia, because the holders, stored the Ashes at 2-1 up with one match left within the series — no matter the results of the fifth Test at The Oval beginning on Thursday.
Even so, Australia will nonetheless need to keep away from defeat in London if they’re to safe their first Ashes series win in England since 2001.
“It is a bit of a strange one,” Cummins informed reporters. “As a group, proud we have retained the Ashes but it has not been our greatest week.”
The quick bowler added: “It is a fairly comparable group to 2019 once we retained (the Ashes in England in a 2-2 draw) and we got here away feeling OK, but it surely felt a bit like we had missed what we came visiting to attain.
“In some regards whatever happened today, it wouldn’t really change how we view next week –- we want to win (the series).”
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Australia completed on 214-5 of their second innings, 61 runs behind England’s first-innings 592, after Marnus Labuschagne stored the hosts at bay on Saturday with 111.
England restricted world Test champions Australia to 317 of their first innings earlier than racing to 592 all out, thanks largely to Zak Crawley’s beautiful 189 and an unbeaten 99 from Jonny Bairstow.
Cummins stated he hadn’t “bowled very well at all” throughout a return of 1-129 in 23 overs — the most costly haul of his Test profession.
He additionally conceded England’s thrilling ‘Bazball’ batting had additionally made life robust for him tactically as a captain.
“We tried to throw a few plans at them and on another day they might have worked but, in all facets, we just weren’t at our best this week and they played really well,” stated Cummins, who added any Australia pleasure at having retained the Ashes could be “muted”.
England ‘legacy’
Meanwhile, England skipper Ben Stokes claimed his aspect will probably be “a team people will remember” regardless of their failure to win the Ashes.
This was England’s first attract 17 Tests since Stokes joined forces with coach Brendon McCullum final yr to supervise a revolution within the workforce’s strategy to red-ball cricket, with the emphasis firmly on entertaining the paying public.
“It’s a tough one to take, a tough pill to swallow,” stated Stokes after a outcome that left England nonetheless trying to find a primary Ashes series win since 2015.
“But I think what we’ve managed to do has already done wonders for cricket in England. I said in the dressing room that the reward for your work isn’t what you get, it’s what you become.”
The all-rounder added: “I feel what we’ve managed to turn into is a workforce that folks will keep in mind.
“As much as I would love to be an Ashes-winning captain, I want this to be a legacy team. Regardless of how the series ends up, people will always talk about us.”
England now have only a few days to regroup earlier than The Oval finale however Stokes stated: “We need to recover from the frustration and give attention to that sport.
“It is a massive one for us and we know 2-2 sounds a lot better than 3-1.”
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