England cannot claim a "moral victory" over Australia in this year's "outstanding" Ashes series, which ranks among the best ever played in the view of former skipper David Gower.
Rain during the fourth Test at Old Trafford ruined England's hopes of teeing up a decider at The Oval, though Stuart Broad's heroics did at least allow them to level the series at 2-2 with victory in the fifth Test.
While England's wait to recapture the urn continues, supporters and players took solace in denying Australia a first series win on English soil since 2001.
Captain Ben Stokes said he was "proud" of England's performances after the fifth Test, describing the draw as a "fair reflection" of the series as a whole.
While Gower agrees with that assessment, he does not believe England will be alone in wondering what might have been.
"Let's not talk about moral victories, that's just a red herring," he told Stats Perform. "It's 2-2, that's how it'll stand in history forever.
"I think it's a fair reflection. If you talk to people in Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Perth and all the rest of Australia, they will say Australia could have won it.
"It's a certainty that if you talk to people in the United Kingdom, they will look at all the things that could have been slightly different.
"They'll look at the weather in Manchester and say we had the moral victory."
Gower added: "I guess what's fair to say is that England were destroying one of the best bowling attacks in world cricket at Old Trafford.
"That assault at Manchester was awesome. If you want to talk about moral victories, maybe that's the one place you're allowed the leniency to say that."
Gower believes the series' many twists and turns should ensure it is remembered as one of the most entertaining of the modern era.
"This is right up there with the great series, or at least the ones in living memory – I can't go back to beyond the 1930s," he added.
"I was part of the 1981 series, which was [Ian] Botham's Ashes, Botham and [Bob] Willis's Ashes in many ways. That was a brilliant, brilliant series to be part of.
"Then 2005 was outstanding, we had some fantastic performances there. Great drama, great theatre, and this year was certainly up there for drama and theatre. You can argue about the overall quality, but there were some stunning performances.
"You look at the human error… at the end of it all, you can imagine that the results – English fans would say – could have been very different. If only.
"But the Aussies will say the same. Rain at Manchester, who'd have thought it? Weather in England… you have to factor these things in at some stage.
"At the end of it, I would say that the quality of the cricket between the two teams was outstanding."
Gower feels much of the series' intrigue came from a clash of styles, with England's aggressive approach under Brendon McCullum contrasting sharply with Australia's more conservative way of playing.
"Before the series started, there was an element of it being a clash of cultures," he said. "The so-called 'Bazball' against the more traditional way that Australia play.
"Sides have to play the way their players play best. England have a lot of gifted batsmen who have the capacity to force the pace, as per 'Bazball'.
"Australia have batsman, for instance like Usman Khawaja, who will just stay at the crease and make runs in quantities and buy time, use time. He was outstanding as well throughout the series."
Borthwick names unchanged starting England team for Australia clash
Steve Borthwick has named an unchanged starting team for England's match against Australia on Saturday with two changes on the bench.
England enter their second November Test looking to bounce back from their narrow 24-22 defeat to New Zealand last weekend.
Borthwick, however has elected to name the same group that started against the All Blacks, though Henry Slade will shift to inside centre, while Ollie Lawrence moves to outside centre.
Marcus Smith retains his place at fly-half while Jamie George continues to lead the side at hooker, but there is no place for Theo Dan or Ben Curry.
The pair are replaced by Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Sleightholme as England move from a six-two split between forwards and backs to a five-three combination.
Hooker Cowan-Dickie will make his first England appearance since November 2022 if he is introduced off the bench.
“Facing Australia is always a massive challenge, and we’ll work diligently this week to ensure we’re physically and tactically prepared to take on the Wallabies,” said Borthwick.
“The passion and energy from the crowd at Allianz Stadium last weekend was absolutely brilliant, from the opening whistle to the final moments, and we can't wait to be back at home this Saturday."
England squad in full:
George Furbank, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Ollie Lawrence, Henry Slade, Tommy Freeman, Marcus Smith, Ben Spencer; Ellis Genge, Jamie George (captain), Will Stuart, Maro Itoje, George Martin, Chandler Cunningham-South, Tom Curry, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Fin Baxter, Dan Cole, Nick Isiekwe, Alex Dombrandt, Harry Randall, George Ford, Ollie Sleightholme
Dottin among nominees for ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October
West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin has been named among the three nominees for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for the month of October.
Dottin made her comeback for the national side at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, and was a driving force as the islanders reached their first semi-final at the event since 2018.
She was instrumental in victories over Scotland and Bangladesh, but saved her most valuable contributions for the latter stages, where she shone with the bat, ball and in the field in their group stage win over England, before producing a memorable individual display with 33 runs and four wickets in the thrilling semi-final defeat to eventual champions New Zealand.
Dottin will be going up against New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt for the award.
The nominees for the Men’s award are New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner, Pakistan’s Noman Ali and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada.
Kevin Sinclair replaced by Junior Sinclair in Harpy Eagles Super50 squad after internal report to GCB
All-rounder Kevin Sinclair will take no further part in the Guyana Harpy Eagles CG United Super50 Cup campaign in Trinidad and Tobago. The decision made by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) followed the submission of an internal report by the Harpy Eagles' management team that it was necessary to replace the player.
The GCB, in making the revelation, also announced that Kevin Sinclair will be replaced by Junior Sinclair in the squad at the tournament.
Though the GCB’s statement did not clarify if sub-standard performance is the reason behind Kevin Sinclair’s ejection from the squad, it pointed out that it was a “necessary squad adjustment.”
“Following an internal report from the Guyana Harpy Eagles management, it has been decided that Kevin Sinclair will no longer be participating in this year’s competition,” the statement read.
In the three matches played in the Super50 Cup, Kevin Sinclair tallied 14 runs and snared three wickets.
He made 14 from 16 balls against Windward Volcanoes and took 2-66 from 10 overs in the same match.
However, he did not bat in the rained-out contest against Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners and was dismissed without a score against Barbados Pride and only took 1-26 from 10 overs in that same match.
The Guyana Harpy Eagles are winless after three matches.
A similar situation arose last year during the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament when organisers announced Kevin left the Guyana Amazon Warriors squad for “personal reasons.”
Kevin Sinclair’s departure opens the door for Junior Sinclair to take up a spot in the Harpy Eagles squad ahead of Tuesday’s contest against Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Guyana Harpy Eagles Squad: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Matthew Nandu, Tevin Imlach (captain), Kevlon Anderson, Kemol Savory, Junior Sinclair, Keemo Paul (vice-captain), Ronaldo Aimohamed, Veerasammy Permaul, Isai Thorne, Ashmead Nedd, Nial Smith, Sylus Tyndall, Rampertab Ramnauth.
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