Although Australia have retained the Ashes, captain Tim Paine said he believed there are a couple of areas they can still improve after they lost the final Test at The Oval by 135 runs on Sunday (September 15).
“Regrets? I’ve got a couple: to start with, the toss. We didn’t take our chances on day one, we didn’t back up our bowlers. England got ahead of the game. I can’t read a pitch so I’m always 50-50. We have got to bat and bowl better than we did in this Test match. No doubt today puts a dampener on it, but from where this group’s come from, to retain the Ashes is still a big deal. But there’s still some improvements and learnings to do,” he said.
“I think the series was in good spirit. It was a competitive environment; pride was on the line and had competitive cricketers trying their best to one-up the opposition. Wade showed us today was possible. He is combative and cops stick for what he says on the pitch, but he walks the walk. That was one of the great Ashes hundreds,” he added.
Although there is a question mark on Paine’s future as Test captain but he said he would love to continue.
“I’m loving the job. I feel there’s some unfinished business but I’m not looking too far down the track.”
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England captain Joe Root, meanwhile, said that his team did pretty well.
“We were excellent this week. Having lost the toss, to play as we did was fantastic; we drove the game all the time and got there in the end. Jofra makes things happen and he’s backed up with other skilful bowlers. Collectively we’ve shown a lot of character throughout the whole series. We were not always at our best but we’ve fought really hard. Credit to Tim and his team,” he added.
“Trev is brilliant, he’s added a huge amount to this Test team and what he’s done in white-ball cricket is phenomenal. We all played for him this week and are very pleased to send him off with a win. Over a period of time you get a strong relationship with players and coaches. There’s an element of banter between Stokes and Trev and that allows Ben to go and play his own way. He’s now one of the world’s best allrounders,” he said.
I’m driven towards Australia, it’s a real focus for English cricket, I want to be the man to bring the Ashes back to England. It’s been a wonderful summer of cricket; we’ve been blessed with some wonderful support and we all really appreciate that,” he expressed.
