England captain Ben Stokes mentioned on Monday the 2-2 draw within the Ashes sequence confirmed his facet had “walked the walk” after shedding the primary two Tests in opposition to Australia, which made each Test thereafter “a do-or-die situation”.
England secured a dramatic 49-run victory within the ultimate Test at The Oval on Monday, bagging seven wickets in a scintillating afternoon session after rain interrupted play for 2 hours.
That drew it stage within the sequence and disadvantaged the customer of its first sequence win in England since 2001.
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“It was a fair reflection of two good teams playing completely different styles of cricket. But each tried to play the cricket that brought the best out of them as a team,” Stokes advised the BBC.
“It also showed the team’s ability to fight their way back from a huge deficit,” he mentioned.
“Going 2-0 down, I don’t think many teams would be able to find a way back from that. We knew we had to force it from the second game onwards. Hand on heart, I think 2-2 is a fair reflection of where the two teams are at the moment,” he mentioned.
“When I took over (as captain in May 2022) I had a clear message which led us here, and the way we’ve gone out and played reflected that. We talked the talk and walked the walk out there. I’m very proud of how we’ve done.”
He additionally praised his retiring star participant Stuart Broad, who took the ultimate two wickets of the match to safe the win – the primary of them proper after switching across the bails on the stumps on the non-striker’s finish seemingly to interrupt the batters’ focus.
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“If you went to the bookies and said Broad would flip the bails and then get two wickets, you’d get very very good odds,” he joked.
“That bloke has been incredible for England. I’m so glad his family were here to see him help us win a match we needed to win not to lose the Ashes,” he added.
Stokes additionally mentioned he hoped to nonetheless be in command of the crew when the following Ashes sequence comes round in November 2025.
“Hopefully we’re still feeling alright and going alright, and I’ll be there.”
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com