A day after losing the fourth Ashes test England has announced an unchanged squad for the fifth and final Ashes test. This was on the cards as many experts after the fourth Ashes test believed that England did almost everything right to win the match but was unlucky due to bad weather which played spoilsport on the last and deciding day of the fourth Ashes test as a result of which Australia retained the Ashes for the fourth consecutive time since 2017.
Interestingly last time when Australia played the Ashes in England in 2019 the scoreline was the same as this time and the last and final test of the 2019 series was also played at The Oval which although Australia lost but retained the Ashes under the captaincy of Tim Pane.
The Lucky Escape
Australia might have retained the Ashes but the Australian captain feels that they have to rethink their approach after the lucky escape at Manchester going into the Final Ashes test at the Oval.
Australian captain looked clueless during the first innings of England’s when Zak Crawly and former test captain Joe Root took the bowlers to the cleaners as Crawly smashed his way to a magnificent score of 189 which has made Australia rethink their plans for the fifth test at The Oval
Time to Get Behind
Meanwhile, England’s captain Ben Stokes has urged the fans to get behind the team and turn up for the final test in London. In the words of Stokes “We know what the last game means to us as a team, and we want to finish off on a high. Want the crowd to come out and support us.”
Having lost the fourth test now England can only level the series and selvage some pride like they did when Ashes Series was last played in England. Talking about how the series has panned out one can say that this has been one of the most competitive Ashes series and can be put right up there with the 2005-06 Ashes series in England. The final Ashes test will be played from July 27.
England squad
Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
