Ashes: Stokes says series has ability to be best for very long time
England Test captain Ben Stokes says this year’s Ashes will be one of the best in history if his side set up a decider in the fourth match of the series.
England are 2-1 down heading into today’s Test at Old Trafford – where England have not won an Ashes match since 1981.
“If we win this one then going into the last game at 2-2, it would be hard not to say this is the best men’s Ashes series in a long time, if not the best,” the captain said.
Ashes fever
“Overall, take away Australia and England, the cricket that’s been played has been absolutely brilliant.
“Everyone who’s watched at the ground or at home on TV has just really enjoyed the cricket that’s been played.
“There have been some pretty special moments out on the cricket ground, some special individual performances as well. I guess that’s what you want from sport.”
England went 2-0 down after narrow defeats at Edgbaston and Lord’s but began their comeback at Headingley with a fourth-day victory courtesy of Chris Woakes and Mark Wood.
Both of those have retained their places in the side in Manchester today with England’s only change being James Anderson’s return to the side in place of Ollie Robinson. It is set to rain this weekend in Manchester and England could be forced into playing a shortened game, much like they were in Leeds.
“You never want to look too much into the weather but in the position we find ourselves in, we find we might have to,” Stokes added.
Decider?
“We know we have to win to take it to the last game for us to have a chance of getting the urn back.
“Going into the last game 2-0 down, we knew we had to win that so I think that helped us a little bit.
“Maybe again with the weather that’s predicted, it might bring more out of us again knowing that we might have to push the game on even more than we normally do. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
If England were to win in Manchester this week and draw level in the series, it would go down to a decider at the Oval next week.
Australia have not won an Ashes series in the United Kingdom since 2001 but have held the urn since they took it off England in 2017-18.
Australia’s last series in England saw them draw 2-2 but they have lost 302, 3-0, 2-1 and 2-1 since their 4-1 victory in 2001 – a series that did not include a Test match at Old Trafford.