After retaining the Ashes in a rain-marred draw at Old Trafford, Australia skipper Pat Cummins maintains his team’s desire to win a Test series in England has not diminished.
The fourth Test’s last day was rained out without a ball being bowled on Sunday due to the persistent rain, denying England the opportunity to win the game and tie the series.
Regardless of the outcome of the fifth Test, which begins on Thursday at The Oval, Australia would retain the Ashes with a 2-1 advantage with one game remaining in the series.
To win the Ashes series in England for the first time since 2001, Australia must still avoid losing in London.
Cummins told reporters, “It is kind of an odd one. “As a team, we’re proud to have kept the ashes, but it hasn’t been our best week,” the group said.
“It is a fairly similar bunch to 2019,” the fast bowler said, “when we retained (the Ashes in England in a 2-2 draw) and we walked away feeling OK, but it seemed like we had missed what we had come over to do.
We want to win the series, so whatever happens tonight won’t really affect how we think about next week.
After Marnus Labuschagne held off the hosts on Saturday with 111, Australia concluded on 214-5 in their second innings, 61 runs behind England’s first-innings 592.
World Test champions Australia were held to 317 in their first innings by England, who then sprinted to 592 all out, partly due to Zak Crawley’s remarkable 189 and Jonny Bairstow’s unbroken 99.
Cummins said that his return of 1-129 in 23 overs, the most costly haul in his Test career, wasn’t “bowled very well at all.”
He acknowledged that his job as captain had also been made difficult strategically by England’s exhilarating “Bazball” hitting.
“We tried to throw them a few plans, and on another day they might have worked but, in all facets, we just weren’t at our best this week and they played really well,” said Cummins. He added that any celebration in Australia over keeping the Ashes would be “muted.”
