England still ‘massively up for’ Ashes finale - Crawley

Australia retained the urn after no play was possible on day five of the drawn fourth test due to the wet weather, leaving England trailing 2-1 in the series ahead of the final test at The Oval.

Player of the match Zak Crawley poses at the post-match presentations after drawing the 4th Test Match between England and Australia at Emirates Old Trafford on July 23, 2023, in Manchester, England. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

England is desperate to win the final Ashes test against Australia despite a series victory no longer being possible as it looks to build for the future, batter Zak Crawley said.

Australia retained the urn after no play was possible on day five of the drawn fourth test due to the wet weather, leaving England trailing 2-1 in the series ahead of the final test at The Oval, which starts on Thursday.

The draw was agonising for England, which seemed to be on course to storm back from 2-0 down in the series to level things up after posting a first innings total of 592, with Crawley scoring a sensational 189.

“We’re massively up for it. Any game, you want to win,” Crawley told reporters. “As Ben Stokes says, we’re building as a team, this isn’t the end just because it’s the end of the Ashes. Hopefully, it’s very much the start.”

“I think 2-2 would be fair. They had the better of us at Lord’s, Edgbaston could have gone either way, we probably deserved this one, and Headingley could have gone either way. So I think 2-2 would be right.

“It felt like we were getting on top of them for sure, and if we’d won this game it would have been very interesting to see. They’ve got some very good players and would have bounced back but the momentum would have been with us for sure.”