The Australian cricket team officially retained the Ashes series after the fourth Test at Manchester ended in a draw due to rain washing out the final day of the game. Although the rain came in as a saviour for the Aussie team as they lagged behind in the contest, it handed over a great disappointment to England, who completely dominated the initial four days of play.
It is worth mentioning that after piling up 592 runs against Australia’s 317 runs, the English side successfully sent half the team of the visitors to the pavilion, with them still trailing by 61 runs. However, fate had other plans as rain played a spoilsport to help Australia escape the tough situation.
The reason why the draw came in as a big disappointment for England is that they would have gone to level the series 2-2 with a game still to go had they won this match. Apart from that, what would have made it even more special was their comeback story. Notably, England bounced back sensationally well after losing the opening two games and registered a famous win at Headingley in the third Ashes 2023 Test. The win at Manchester would have meant winning back-to-back matches after initially going 0-2 down.
Following the missed out opportunity, Ben Stokes was asked a bit annoying question by an English reporter in the post-match press conference, which the England skipper had a blunt response to.
The journalist questioned Stokes whether going 0-2 down early in the series was a bigger ‘disappointment’ for the team than the drawn fourth Test. Stokes straightaway responded by saying, “No, not really,” with a blank face followed by a stare and a weird smile.
Although England now couldn’t write a fairytale ending due to the weather not allowing the fourth Test to conclude in their favour, they still have a chance to draw the series by pulling off a win in the final match.
