Ben Stokes rues Old Trafford rain after ‘pretty much perfect’ performance

England led by 275 runs on first innings after successful the toss, bowling Australia out for 317 earlier than racking up 592 in 107.4 overs, and led by 61 runs heading into the ultimate day with Australia 5 wickets down of their second innings.

However after rain had restricted the fourth day’s play to 30 overs, it compelled a complete washout on Sunday, denying England the chance to push for victory and leaving Australia 2-1 up heading into the ultimate Take a look at at The Oval subsequent week – thereby retaining the Ashes urn.

“The cricket we acquired in, on this sport, was doubtlessly a chance for a workforce to play it secure; to attend and see what the result is likely to be,” Stokes stated. “We did not try this. We undoubtedly did not shrink back from what we would have liked to do.

“We’re at all times placing our entrance foot ahead and making an attempt to press the sport as onerous as we probably may. As a captain, that is one thing that makes me very proud as a pacesetter of the ten different guys on the market. It is simply unlucky that we managed to get three hours in during the last two days.”

“The climate did not assist us and we won’t change that. It is a robust tablet to swallow, realizing that is the rationale we sit right here with a draw, however we have accomplished the whole lot we probably may within the hours of play we managed to get. We had been utterly and completely dominant all through the hours of play we had. It is a disgrace, however, oh properly.”

When requested to check how he felt in Manchester to his feelings after England’s defeats within the first two Exams at Edgbaston and Lord’s, Stokes stated: “I feel they’re utterly completely different.

“We clearly performed some sensible cricket in these video games, [but] we performed some cricket that we knew we may have been higher at. However on this sport I am unable to really look again and suppose, ‘We may have been higher there’, as a result of we had been just about good all through the entire sport.

“Bowling Australia out after which scoring the runs that we did on the tempo that we did – I am unable to actually say we acquired something fallacious about this sport, to be trustworthy. It’s robust to say we ended up with a draw after we’ve dominated the cricket that we have managed to get in.”

“It is similar to 2019, after we needed to go to The Oval and win to attract the sequence,” Stokes stated. “We’ll should recover from the frustration of immediately after which concentrate on that sport. It’s a large sport for us and 2-2 sounds lots higher than 3-1.

“The mentality and mindset inside the dressing-room is to exit and win. Return to the Pakistan sequence, the place we may have taken it straightforward in that final sport realizing we would gained the sequence however we did not. We nonetheless went out with the identical mentality of how we needed to play our cricket.

“Each time we stroll out on the sector, that is all I encourage the gamers to do: simply consider what that you must do as a person to affect a sport in the appropriate manner. If it would not occur, you have nonetheless acquired a chance to try this another way or a special session. All the things we do is to try to be optimistic and get a end result for England.”

Stokes acknowledged {that a} decider at The Oval would have been “a really, very particular week within the historical past of English cricket” however stated that his workforce have “already accomplished wonders” for the game throughout the nation.

“It will have elevated the whole lot that the sequence has already accomplished for Take a look at cricket, particularly in England,” he stated. “However I feel what we have managed to do, up till immediately anyway, has already accomplished wonders for cricket in England.

“I feel we’ll nonetheless have the assist that now we have accomplished all through the sequence subsequent week. We’ll be treating it as each different sport and I hope the assist we get will nonetheless be there or thereabouts, as if it was 2-2.”