By India Today Sports Desk: England captain Ben Stokes has hailed his team for drawing the Ashes 2023 level in the final Test match at The Oval. England were 0-2 down after the first two Test matches of the series, but dominated the proceedings to pull back in the final three games. England would have won the series if not for rain spoiling the final day of the fourth Test in Manchester, where they just needed 5 wickets to win the match.
After going 0-2 down at Lord’s the bullish England captain had said that they would be aiming to win the series 3-2. While that was not the case, but England showed what they were capable of in the final three matches of the bilateral series.
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Speaking at the post match presentation ceremony, Stokes said that the series showed the quality that both sides had and that they were able to go toe to toe against the world champions Australia.
“Yeah, actually really good. I think, 2-2 at the end of the series like this is a reflection of the two teams going toe-to-toe. Australia, World Test Champions, you know quality team,” Stokes said in the post match presentation.
“Being 2-0 down earlier in the series, I don’t think many teams would have responded the way we did. Ahh, I am incredibly proud of everyone who has put their all efforts to get us here,” the captain lauded his players.
The all-rounder hailed his bowling unit for their efforts and said that he was fairly content with the display from his side.
“Particularly, the bowlers, see Woakesy has played only three games and he walked off with the player of the series award. Standing here pretty content with what we’ve achieved,” Stokes said.
Australia looked in control going into the final session of the game, needing a little less than 150 runs to win with 7 wickets in hand. Chria Woakes and Moeen Ali combined in the final session to affect a collapse in the Australian batting order and then Stuart Broad cleaned up the final two wickets in the final hour of play. England won the final Test match by 49 runs and were able to maintain their record of not losing the home Ashes series since 2001.
