Ben Stokes after Australia retain Ashes following Manchester draw

Australia retained the Ashes after Day 5 of the fourth Take a look at in Manchester on Sunday, July 23 led to a draw as no play was doable on account of persistent rain. Lots of play was misplaced on Day 4 as nicely on account of climate though the Aussies did a commendable job underneath stress, with Marnus Labuschagne turning round his poor Ashes marketing campaign with a much-needed hundred.

The forecast for Day 5 was not nice and sadly for England that turned out to be true because the climate denied them an opportunity of pushing for victory. Talking on the post-match presentation ceremony, Stokes admitted, “It’s a tough one to take, you already know [a draw]. The sort of cricket we performed on the primary three days and to be on the improper facet of the climate, it is a robust one. Nevertheless it’s part of the journey. I feel coming into this recreation, it was a do or die recreation for us. Bowling them out for 320 and scoring 590, we could not do a lot.”

Waiting for the ultimate Take a look at of the collection, Stokes stated that they’ll play for satisfaction. He additionally went onto reward Participant of the Match Zak Crawley for a superb knock. The England all-rounder commented, “We’ll have loads of satisfaction to play the subsequent recreation. The harm to Pope made us take into consideration the construction of the staff. Very happy with everybody’s effort. I’ve been vocal about Crawley, what Zak does is he alters the sport, the way in which he performs and the way in which he takes the bowlers on. That was an unimaginable innings, we knew an innings like that was not distant.”

After Chris Woakes’ maiden Ashes five-for held Australia to 317 of their first innings, England responded with 592 as Crawley struck a powerful 189 off 182 balls. Joe Root (84 off 95) and Jonny Bairstow (99 not out off 81) additionally made important contributions.

The 32-year-old additionally had phrases of reward for his senior pacers James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who’re probably taking part in of their final Ashes. Stokes hailed them and stated, “It is wonderful (their file). Broad and Jimmy have been unbelievable examples. Broad loves the battle and he loves taking part in towards Australia, he has a superb file towards them.”

When requested if he had any regrets about declaring early at Edgbaston, Stokes replied ‘No’ and concluded, “We all know what the final recreation means to us as a staff and we need to end off on a excessive. Need the group to come back out and help us.”

The fifth and ultimate Ashes 2023 Take a look at might be performed on the Kennington Oval in London from July 27 to 31.

–By A Cricket Correspondent