For the series and for cricket it was a shame that Manchester got ruined. If it had been 2-2 it would have been the perfect series, whoever comes out on top at the Kia Oval.

The frustrating thing about Manchester was that for three days it really came off, and we played exactly how we’ve talked about wanting to. The bowlers were unbelievable and the batters smacked it everywhere. The game epitomised where we’re at and what we’re trying to do, and it was almost the perfect game.

The lads were flat that evening. We felt that we’d had a pretty good series and made most of the Test matches the games that they were. But Stokesy made a very good speech afterwards, saying that this Ashes series won’t define us as players, that we’re about the imprint that we’re trying to leave on cricket. We want youngsters growing up wanting to play the game the way that we play it, and that’s not going to stop just because we don’t have the urn. This is what we’re trying to create. This little moment in our career isn’t going to define us.

If we dwell on it for too long it’s going to eat us up. It’s been and gone. We’re looking at this week, and then the winter in India, and how we can carry on this form of cricket. We’ve seen the viewing numbers and they’re the highest they’ve been in a long time, and for us that’s really rewarding to see. People around the world and the country are watching and enjoying what we’re doing. Perhaps it seems that we’re trying to squirm out of it because we’ve not regained the Ashes, but for us as a team, we have to look to the future.

The Oval’s massive. We’ve got to throw everything at winning this game. If we can end the summer dominating the Aussies at The Oval and putting on a show, putting bums on seats, that’s where we want to be, and that’s what we’re going to try to do. Australia haven’t won a series in England since 2001, and we don’t want to let that record go this week. Regardless of the result, this England team will celebrate hard after it, because of the way we’ve played. We’ve been true to ourselves.

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I’m sure come the end of the series we’ll all sit down, both teams, and have a beer together in the dressing room. I’ve got some good friends in their team and I’m sure they’re the same with us. We fight hard on the pitch and there’s been plenty of talk off it, but ultimately we’re 22 blokes playing cricket against each other trying to put on a show, and it’d be a shame if we didn’t celebrate that fact at the end of the series, regardless of what happens.

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A word on Zak Crawley’s innings at Old Trafford. Against such a good attack it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.

He’s a very laidback character. I don’t think too much outside noise affects him. He comes in the same every day, trains hard, he’ll put the yards in, and we see every day how good he is and that gives us confidence in the group. He’s just a really relaxed guy and when he bats, he doesn’t ever look too frantic or that he’s bothered by the occasion or the moment. He deserved that innings more than anyone. We all felt he was just round the corner from a big score, and what a knock it was.

He’s a big imposing presence at the crease. As a bowler you look at that and think, ‘Well, you can’t really pitch it up because you’ll get whacked, and if you bowl short you get whacked too!’ Your margin for error is a lot smaller with Zak than for most other players, even at this level. He’s probably one of the best players of fast bowling that we’ve got. He has so much time to play. The Aussies rarely even bump him anymore because he just whacks it in front of square for four, as if to say, ‘Well, don’t bowl it there!’ And then you pitch it up to him and he drives you down the ground. As a bowler you know at the top of your mark that against certain players if you miss by a whisker you’re going for four, and he’s one of those.

For a big guy, his running between the wickets and his rotation of strike is very good. He’s almost got every element of the game. I think that’s what the coaches and the team see in him, and that’s why they’ve kept him around. We’re going to reap the rewards of that, I think there’s a lot more to come.

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For me personally the series has been a good learner. Looking back on my own contribution, the foot injury I had before the series was real bad timing, I was in great rhythm before that with Sussex and I feel that without that knock I would have hit the first Test flying. But for me, it’s a learner in terms of playing on different pitches and fulfilling different roles, and knowing that there’s work to be done. I know I can get better: skill-wise, body-wise. It’s my third year now with England and I’m still trying to learn with every series that comes upon me.

To be honest my mind has already wandered to the rematch in two years’ time. A mate texted me the other day asking when the next series was! It’s just good, because there’s already that excitement about it. For the nation that’s a good place to be. When we went down under last time it wasn’t the greatest series. I just can’t wait for us to get back down there and right a few wrongs.