Ben Stokes shared a hug with Joe Root and spoke of an “awesome feeling” after watching his England side claw back some respectability on this failed Ashes tour with a rollercoaster two-day victory on Saturday.
Of the England squad, none had felt the pain of an 18-match winless streak more than the captain and his predecessor. Stokes had played in 13 Tests here without tasting a victory, while for Root the number was 17. With both men aged 34, this tour may well have been their last chance.
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“It’s an awesome feeling,” said Stokes, his side having chased down 175 on a bowler-friendly surface that had produced 36 wickets in six sessions. “To end up on the right side of a result after such a long period of time is a pretty special feeling.
“At the end there, when all the boys came out of the dressing room, [Root and myself] had a little hug and just said: ‘Finally we’ve won one’. I’m sure later tonight there might be a few words spoken about it.
“We know Australia is a very hard place to win a game, let alone a series. It will be another four years until England come back here, but there won’t be a narrative that we haven’t won a game – that goes back to zero now.”
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Stokes had looked like a broken man before this fourth Test, with the strain of sitting 3-0 down and criticism of the team’s mid-tour break in Noosa led him to plead for some empathy from the public. Losing Jofra Archer to a side strain only deepened the growing sense of crisis.
“The couple of days leading up to this Test match were difficult for us,” said Stokes. “The way the leadership group – Baz [the head coach, Brendon McCullum], myself, the other coaches and senior players – were able to keep as much focus as possible on the cricket was important.
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“Once you do cross that line on to the field you put everything else to one side and your focus switches to what you need to do. When you’re not on the field, things can start fluttering around in your head. The way we were able to keep that focus on the cricket was important in why we were able to get on the right side of the result.”
Stokes singled out Josh Tongue for praise after seven wickets in the crapshoot meant he was named player of the match, while the decision to bring in Jacob Bethell paid off with a top score of 40 in the run chase.
“Josh has that natural wicket-taking ability that is so hard to come by. He should be very proud of himself because he has bowled some long, big spells and backed it up. He’s been phenomenal. Beth played well coming in under a little bit of pressure from the first innings and to play the way he did shows a lot about his character and the confidence he has within himself.”
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As regards the pitch, which after having 10mm of grass left on is likely to trigger an investigation by Cricket Australia, Stokes said: “When you go out there and you’re faced with conditions, you’ve got to crack on and deal with it. But being brutally honest, that’s not really what you want. Boxing Day Test match, you don’t want a game finishing in less than two days. Not ideal.”
Steve Smith, Australia’s stand-in captain, said: “It was obviously a tricky one. Thirty-six wickets over two days [means it] probably offered just a little bit too much. Finances aren’t great, I think it was a sell-out tomorrow. So, yeah, disappointing for those [fans] that wanted to come along.”
The nature of the win means the sides have seven days to recover before the fifth Test in Sydney – a match that could hold huge significance for England and the futures of McCullum and the team director, Rob Key. One player almost certain to be missing is Gus Atkinson after straining his hamstring, with Matthew Potts the next seamer in line for a spot in England’s attack.
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