The Australians cricketers who played in the 2023 Ashes, including captain Pat Cummins, responded to England’s ‘moral victory’ claims during the Test series.
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The 2023 Ashes was drawn 2-2 as England came from a 0-2 deficit after the first two Test matches to win two out of the last three. The series was marred by several instances that evoked heated debates around the Spirit of Cricket: neither team was willing to give an inch or budge from their respective stances.
The fourth Test of the series, at Old Trafford, was the only drawn match: rain washed away the entire fifth day’s play with England in the driver’s seat.
Before the last day’s play during the fifth Test of the series at the Kia Oval, Harry Brook said that if England would consider a win in the Test match a moral victory in the series: “We were dominating the game last week (the fourth Test) weren’t we? So if the game had played out, I would like to think we would have won that. So if we can win this week, it almost can make it a moral victory.”
The Australian players responded to those comments during Seven Cricket’s show with The Grade Cricketer. On being asked how difficult it was to realise that they had lost the series morally, Mitchell Marsh mockingly said, “I think any time you lose an Ashes series 5-0, it’s always tough to take. Them being the greatest side to ever play Test cricket, 5-0 was probably fair.”
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Pat Cummins joined in: “It was a thumping, morally. Yeah, you can’t come back from it. So yeah, it’s something we will work on in the nets, somehow. Take some philosophy books or something.”
Both the men’s and women’s Ashes were drawn this summer. In other sporting events around the world, Australia defeated England in the 2023 Netball World Cup final, while Spain beat England in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup final by Spain.
Mitchell Starc reminded the viewers of every event: “It’s been a big couple of months for England, hasn’t it? Two Ashes series clean sweeps. They won the netball. They’ve just won the FIFA World Cup.”
When asked how the Australian fans would have reacted had they drawn a series 2-2 at home, Josh Hazlewood said, “I don’t think the crowd would hang around at all. I think they’d be out of here.”
Scott Boland echoed his sentiments: “I think we’d get crucified if it was 2-2 at home.”
