Ben Stokes shared a hug with Joe Root and spoke of an “awesome feeling” after watching his England side claw back some respectability on this failed Ashes tour with a rollercoaster two-day victory in Melbourne.
Of the England squad, none had felt the pain of an 18-match winless streak more than the captain and his predecessor. Stokes had played in 13 Tests here without ever tasting a victory, while for Root the number was 17. With both men aged 34, this tour may well have been their last chance.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” said Stokes, his side having chased down a target of 175 on a bowler-friendly surface that had produced 36 wickets in just six sessions. “To end up on the right side of a result after such a long period of time is a pretty special feeling.
“At the end there, when all the boys came out of the dressingroom, [Root and myself] had a little hug and just said: ‘Finally we’ve won one’. I’m sure later tonight there might be a few words spoken about it.
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“We know Australia is a very hard place to win a game, let alone a series. It will be another four years until England come back here, but there won’t be a narrative that we haven’t won a game – that goes back to zero now.”
Stokes had looked like a broken man two days out from this fourth Test, with the strain of sitting 3-0 down and criticism of the team’s mid-tour break in Noosa seeing him plead for some empathy from the public. Losing Jofra Archer to a side strain only deepened the growing sense of crisis.
“The couple of days leading up to this Test match were obviously difficult for us,” said Stokes. “The way in which the leadership group – Baz [head coach Brendon McCullum], myself, the other coaches and senior players – were able to keep as much focus as possible on the cricket was important.
“Once you do cross that line on to the field you put everything else to one side and your focus switches to what you need to do. When you’re not on the field, things can start fluttering around in your head. The way we were able to keep that focus on the cricket was important in why we were able to get on the right side of the result.”
Stokes singled out Josh Tongue for praise after seven wickets in the crapshoot saw him named player of the match, while the decision to bring in Jacob Bethell paid off with a top score of 40 in the run chase.
“Josh has that natural wicket-taking ability that is so hard to come by. He should be very proud of himself because he has bowled some long, big spells and backed it up. He’s been phenomenal. Beth played well coming in under a little bit of pressure from the first innings and to play the way he did shows a lot about his character and the confidence he has within himself.”
As regards the pitch, which after seeing 10mm of grass left on is likely to trigger a probe by Cricket Australia, Stokes said: “When you go out there and you’re faced with conditions, you’ve got to crack on and deal with it. But being brutally honest, that’s not really what you want. Boxing Day Test match, you don’t want a game finishing in less than two days. Not ideal.”
Steve Smith, Australia’s stand-in captain, added: “In terms of the wicket, it was obviously a tricky one. Thirty-six wickets over two days [means it] probably offered just a little bit too much. “Obviously finances aren’t great. I think it was a sell-out tomorrow if we got there. So, yeah, disappointing for those [fans] that wanted to come along.”
The hit to Australian cricket could reach a reported A$10 million (€5.7 million). A sell-out crowd of more than 90,000 was due for day three, including a travelling English contingent of up to 20,000, and the lack of play on Sunday will lead to an avalanche of refunds as well as lost sales in merchandise, food and drinks.
A similar situation played out when Australia won in two days in Perth, where losses ran to an expected A$3 million (€1.7 million). Ground curator Matthew Page finds himself at the centre of the storm after turning in a surface that made batting a perilous endeavour.
Todd Greenberg, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, was desperate to avoid such a scenario, telling SEN Radio before play on the second morning: “A simple phrase I’d use is – short Tests are bad for business. I can’t bemore blunt than that.
“Historically we have taken a hands-off approach in all of our wicket preparation ... but it’s hard not to get more involved when you see the impact on the sport, particularly commercially.” – Guardian
