The final Test of Ashes 2023 series starts on July 27 at the Oval.
After the fourth Test in Manchester was drawn due to rain, England cannot win the series and will hope to draw it 2-2 in Oval, while Australia has already retained the Ashes and need only a win or a draw in the 5th Test to win their first Test series in England since 2001.
Many suggested that England's past decisions – their declaration in the first innings of the opening Test in particular – came to bite them but the side's captain, Ben Stokes, insisted he had no regrets.
Ahead of the fifth and final Test of the ongoing Ashes 2023 series, Harry Brook made a bizarre claim that their new way of playing Test cricket was to make people happy and bring Test cricket alive again.
The young batter believes it will be a “moral victory” for England if they can win at the Oval and draw the series.
“We were dominating the game last week so if the game had played out, I would like to think we would have won. So if we can win this week, yeah it can be a moral victory. You can’t do anything about the weather. We were dominating and had it played out, I am sure we would have won. But the rain won last week,” Brook told Fox Sports.
The ‘Bazball’ tactic adopted by Stokes and McCullum is said to have revolutionized Test cricket. But it came for heavy criticism as the tactics have seemingly failed against Australian attacks at home.
“We’re not focused on winning as a side, we’re focused on making people enjoy watching and bringing Test cricket alive again. I think we’ve done a decent job of that in the last 12 months and it’s been exciting to watch. It’s been exciting to play in,” Brook said about ‘Bazball’.
The final Test of the series starts on July 27 at the Oval.