England captain Ben Stokes: "It is an incredible honour to lead this team. I said in the dressing that rewards for your work are not what you get, it's what you become. I think we have become a team people will remember. People will always talk about us."
Monday 24 July 2023 07:35, UK
England captain Ben Stokes said it was "a tough pill to swallow" as rain ended his side's hopes of regaining the Ashes after an "utterly dominant" performance at Emirates Old Trafford.
Wet weather ensured no play was possible on the fifth day in Manchester and that only 30 overs were bowled on day four, with Australia retaining both their 2-1 lead and their grip on the urn.
England dismissed the tourists for 317 before racing to a mammoth 592 inside 107.4 overs and then reducing their opponents to 214-5 in their second innings.
Stokes' side will now look to earn a series draw by winning the fifth and final Test at The Kia Oval from Thursday, live on Sky Sports Cricket.
This is a tough way to not be able to get the urn back but I probably wouldn’t be on the side of saying there should be reserve days. Test cricket is five days.
The skipper said: "It is frustrating when the weather dictates the outcome of a game. It's a shame. We did literally everything we could and the weather didn't help us. It's a tough pill to swallow knowing that's the reason we sit here with a draw.
"I think we were completely and utterly dominant in the cricket we had. We were pretty much perfect throughout the whole game. Bowling Australia out and scoring the runs at the pace we did.
"There was potentially the opportunity for a team to play it safe but we didn't do that. We didn't shy away from what we needed to do. We always put our front foot forward and as captain I am proud.
"It is an incredible honour to lead this team. I said in the dressing that the rewards for your work are not what you get it's what you become.
"I think we have become a team people will remember. Regardless of how the series ends up, people will always talk about us."
Stokes is disappointed that a gripping Ashes series has been denied a fifth-Test decider but says his team are still determined to end their red-ball summer on a high.
He added: "I think a [series decider] would have elevated everything but what we have managed to do has done wonders for cricket in England.
"There is no doubt that if we had managed to get the result in this game then next week would have been very special, not just for Ashes cricket but English cricket.
All the games have been so tight and come down to the moments where one team or the other needs to be better. Australia were better than us in the first two games in those moments.
"We will have to get over this disappointment and focus on that game as it is massive for us - 2-2 sounds better than 3-1. The mentality we have within the dressing room is go out and win. Everything we do is to be positive.
"You go back to the Pakistan series, the New Zealand series [that we won 3-0] we could have taken it easy in the last game but we didn't even though we had already won those series."
"We know we can't get [the Ashes urn] back. All we can do is draw the series and that is what we will be trying to do."
Watch the fifth and final Ashes Test, from The Kia Oval, live on Sky Sports Cricket from Thursday. Coverage starts at 10am ahead of the first ball at 11am.
