History beckons in Ashes finale

Fifth Test begins in London today as England aim for first 4-0 series win.

LONDON:

A chance to make history, albeit of different sorts, will confront England and Australia when the final Test of this season’s Ashes starts at The Oval in south London today.

At 3-0 up with one to play, England have already retained the Ashes and won the series — the first time since the 1950s they have won three successive Test campaigns against their oldest rivals.

But they still have plenty to play for as they have never won four Tests against Australia in England and have never taken any Ashes series by a 4-0 margin.

Despite England’s strong position, England captain Alastair Cook has come under scrutiny, with the likes of Australia great Shane Warne deriding the opener’s ‘way too cautious’ captaincy during the fourth Test in Durham, which England won by 74 runs.

Cook said he is happy to face continued criticism over his leadership style so long as his side keep winning.



“I’d much rather be in my position getting criticised for my captaincy and being 3-0, make no mistake about that,” said Cook.

“He [Warne] might genuinely believe that. The beauty of cricket is, as we always know, there is a lot of different ways to skin the cat.”

Warne, now working as a media pundit, is a friend of Australia captain Michael Clarke and Cook said: “Clearly he (Warne) plays a very significant part in Australian cricket, in their dressing room, make no mistake about that.

“We know he’s working for them so of course when you’ve the media like he has, he’s got a place to talk to about it.

“It hasn’t been the first time I’ve been criticised as a player or a captain and it certainly won’t be the last.”

Clarke defends Australia selectors

Australia captain Michael Clarke came to the defence of his embattled selectors, saying they weren’t picking a side for a ‘charity tour’ as the tourists looked to salvage a consolation win in the final match.

So far this Ashes, top-order batting has been Australia’s greatest weakness with eight batsmen being tried in the first six spots of a team trying to fill the void left by the retirements of Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey.

Clarke said the top order were not making life easy for a selection panel headed by former Australia batsman John Inverarity and including wicket-keeping great Rodney Marsh.



“I know there’s been a lot of talk back home about consistency of selection but the selectors are trying to do everything in their power to help us win and if guys aren’t performing, unfortunately you can’t select them,” he said.

“We’re trying, or the selectors, I guess, are trying to be as consistent as they can but we’re also here to win the game.

“This is not a charity tour. It’s not about giving blokes a go and hoping for the best.

“All the selectors can do is pick what they feel is the best XI, but it’s up to us as players to do our job and unfortunately our batting has let us down throughout the series so far.

“But, I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, we’ve got blokes with the talent there that can do it.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2013.

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