England captain Ben Stokes and lynchpin Joe Root have commended their side for displaying “courage” and “bravery” in their jinx-breaking victory over Australia, pointing to how the team responded to the challenges thrown at them in the unnerving lead-up to the fourth Test. Fans back home who donned an England shirt would’ve been proud of the Poms’ fightback, and if you fancy custom cricket shirts, please do check out this link.”Obviously to lose the series is always very disappointing but I think it was really important that we showed a lot of character for the rest of the series,” said Root.”There’s been a lot thrown at this team and the way that we responded throughout these two days has been excellent. Clearly it was a very fast forward Test match with the surface that we were presented with but I think we adapted to it as much as we could and exploited it when we had the opportunities. We showed a bit of bravery today in the way that we approached things with the bat and it’s why we won the Test match.”You never expect them to hand it to you. Like I said, I’ve been on the wrong side of the result a lot here so you know what to expect. You know how good Australia are in their own conditions. But the fact that we managed to get across the line today is excellent and hopefully we can improve on this week and next week as well.”
Stokes echoed the sentiments and spoke about how the team maintained focus despite the noise around their camp before the Test, with apprehensions around their Noosa trip, a video involving Ben Duckett that led to an ECB enquiry, and the weight of a 3-0 series loss in a rubber that was not supposed to be lopsided.
“After the couple of days building up to this match, there was quite a lot thrown our way,” Stokes said at the post-match presentation. “To be able to come out here and put a performance in like we did there on the back of all of that kind of stuff. Just make sure that we stay focused on the task at hand, which is to come out here and try and beat a very good Australian team.
“And we’ve managed to do that. So a lot of credit has to go to the players, the staff and all the management to be able to make sure that the lads’ focus was completely and utterly on cricket. Very, very proud captain here of the guys in the dressing room.
“It’s obviously been a tough tour up until now and we’re obviously over the moon that we managed to get on the right side of a result. It’s been not only a tough tour for us as a team out here, but obviously everything that’s gone before us. So to be stood here now and be part of a team who’s managed to win a game out of Australia over a long period of time is a pretty good feeling.”
