Rain washed out the final day of the fourth Ashes Test, forcing a draw which ensured England, trailing 2-1 with one match to go.
Manchester: Australia captain Pat Cummins, whose side retained the Ashes on a ran-hit Sunday, insisted there will not be huge celebrations as they must now focus on securing a first series win in England since 2001, a Reuters report in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says.
Rain washed out the final day of the fourth Ashes Test, forcing a draw which ensured England, trailing 2-1 with one match to go.
This means that under can circumstances can England win. At best if the at end in a draw it will still leave Australia, as holders, guaranteeing their return home with the Ashes.
Despite the result, Cummins’ and his team’s work in England is not through yet.
England captain Ben Stokes did not feel there needed to be a rule change to accommodate such eventualities, amid calls for a reserve day to be made available if days are lost to rain as has been introduced for the World Test Championship final.
“It feels a bit weird,” he said. “The rain might have helped us, but it was a great result. There won’t be huge celebrations. There may be a bit of a pat on the back for retaining (the Ashes), because there has been a lot of work going into this situation where a draw does get us to retain.”
“It’s good that we have retained but we know we have a fair bit of work to do for next week. It’s a pretty similar group to 2019 when we retained and we came away feeling OK but it felt a bit like we had missed what we came over to achieve (a series win),” he added.
England captain Ben Stokes did not feel there needed to be a rule change to accommodate such eventualities, amid calls for a reserve day to be made available if days are lost to rain as has been introduced for the World Test Championship final.
“Test cricket is five days,” Stokes said. “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.”
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