Ashes LIVE: Ben Stokes admits his pride after ‘difficult few days’ as England snap long wait to win a Test in Australia

Speaking to TNT Sports, Joe Root said he was disappointed that this victory had no impact on the series, but was pleased that England were able to bounce back after a difficult week.

I feel much better. What happened, is he going 18? It’s disappointing that this didn’t impact the series. But I think it’s very important to respond to everything that has been directed at the band lately. And I think finding his way to that wicket shows good cricketing intelligence in many ways.

But today we showed great courage by playing that way, with that belief. So I’m proud of the other guys and hopefully we can build on that and use the momentum.

Root took 15 from 38 deliveries before being dismissed lbw by Jhye Richardson. He admitted he was demoralized by not being able to help England get over the line but added that the selfless victory meant more.

I think when you’re there you know what the job is and what’s required. For my part, I was bitterly disappointed; I wanted to see us across the line and be there with Brooky at the end. But I wouldn’t trade it for victory.

Despite the win, Graeme Swann left the tourists disappointed on the second day of the Boxing Day test; The former England spinner claimed Ben Stokes’ team “makes you want to throw your hands up” at times.

But speaking to TNT Sports, he believes this big win in Melbourne could be the big boost England need.

I was so nervous watching this. This England team is confusing you. They are very good on their days and very bad when they are not. If this gives one or two players a chance next time – to make sure we are more ruthless and fight for the Ashes in Melbourne – then maybe this isn’t a wasted tour.

The skipper added that he was particularly proud of Jacob Bethell, who came to the crease to score England’s highest score of the day (40) with a calm and patient strike to a very quick wicket.

Beth scored a crucial strike in difficult conditions and showed that she will continue to display the quality we see in her.

The partnerships we formed in this pursuit were phenomenal.

Emphasizing how challenging this tour was for him personally, Stokes said that he was proud of how he took on the captaincy throughout this series.

Definitely. A lot has come our way after a few days leading up to this Test. We made sure to stay focused on the task at hand, a lot of credit must be given to the cast and crew. A captain who is proud of the boys in the locker room.

The way cricket was played was short and sharp. It was very difficult. We tried to approach everything positively, which was appreciated by the bowlers.

The path we took today was exactly the right path to chase it; You can’t let good bowlers take it down to dangerous areas. I thought we were brave in the way we worked.

Josh Tongue, what an opportunity for him. Five wickets in front of a huge crowd on Boxing Day. Absolutely amazing. Jacob Bethell is a crucial strike in tough conditions. The partnerships they managed to establish were extraordinary.

England captain Ben Stokes saluted his Barmy Army (who are still singing, by the way!) as he reflected on a tough tour.

It’s been a challenging tour so far and we’re very happy to get the right result here.

Not only is it a tough tour for us as a team, but we have everything ahead of us, so it’s a pretty good feeling to be here as part of a team that managed to win a match in Australia.

I hope it means a lot to the fans. The constant support we receive is very special. There is constant noise and children hear, know and feel it.

This means a lot to us as players and I’m sure the fans will have a bit of a headache tomorrow.

Speaking about the match, Steve Smith told TNT Sports:

The difficult one. Frankly, it’s a very fast game! If we had scored 50 or 60 more points in both innings, we could have been there in the end. But thank God for England, they came out today, bowled very well this morning and didn’t let us get away.

Then when they started with the bat they were very aggressive, got away a few times and probably softened our ball a little bit and probably didn’t offer that much from that point on.

The spicy pitch at the MCG has been a major topic of discussion in this fourth Ashes Test and Smith has offered his take on the wicket, claiming it has benefited the bowlers too much…

He performed very well throughout the match. When the ball softened, probably after a few powerful hits from the top order, it went a little less, but without that he would still have plenty to offer.

According to me [it favoured the bowlers] a little too much. It was difficult, no one could really get in. When you see 36 wickets over two days, that’s probably too much.

He probably did more than they wanted. If we reduce this to 8mm [of grass]This may be true.

Josh Tongue wrote his name into the history books on Boxing Day, becoming the first Englishman since Dean Headley in 1998 to take a five-wicket haul during the Ashes Test at the MCG.

He would go on to take two more wickets on Saturday and the England bowler will be given the player of the match award for his brilliance with the ball in hand.

Tongue told TNT Sports:

This is what dreams are made of. I mean, there were some tensions waking up the day after Christmas. But getting a high five was a very special feeling.

Barmy Army has shown an incredible performance in the last four matches.

A 15-month injury spell between 2021 and 2022 due to a shoulder injury had left Tongue wondering whether he would ever play cricket again.

However, the player of the match described his journey so far:

I was in a tough spot with my body and my belongings and probably would have retired, but I was happy to put in the hard work to get back to playing cricket and now playing for England… It’s what I always wanted to do.

It’s an incredible feeling for our fans to have won this match. I couldn’t be happier than to win the Boxing Day quiz.

Joe Root also thanked Barmy Army for their support during the tour while speaking to TNT Sports:

It’s a very special situation. We are very lucky with the support we receive. Look at the number of people here.

They do this everywhere. We are so lucky to have them. We are really pleased that they can experience this pleasure with us.

Jacob Bethell was impressive in the first game of the series. He scored 40 from 46 deliveries, including five fours, and Root also had praise for the middle-order knock…

Superior. The belief he plays with and the intelligence he has. Using the crease and making it difficult for bowlers to retain length. It takes courage, it takes guts, and it takes a lot of skill to perform as well as he does.

Speaking to TNT Sports, England batsman Joe Root reflected on the victory, heaping praise on the tourists for finally securing victory Down Under.

Frankly, losing the series is very disappointing. It was really important that we showed a lot of character for the rest of this series.

A lot has been done to this team. Our response over the last two days has been excellent. I was a Test match that went very quickly with the surface we were presented with.

We showed some courage today in approaching things with a stick. That’s why we won the Test match. I’ve been on the wrong side of the outcome here a lot. It’s great that we managed to get over the line today and hopefully we can build on that next week.

Root, who came on to bat in the second innings, added:

I was pretty confident at that point. It was disappointing to walk out at that stage. But it didn’t happen like that, winning the match is the most important thing.

I was really pleased and proud of all these young people. Many are on their first tour; It is important to experience victory here.

The Barmy Army is running amok here in Bay 13.

This win means a lot to them and to the England team serving their fans today.

It was another wild day of cricket on Saturday morning as Australia collapsed and England were bowled out for 132 against the hosts.

Brydon Carse had an excellent day with the ball in hand, taking four wickets to dismiss Alex Carey, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc and Travis Head.

England came on and sensing a chance of their first win of the series, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett started well, picking up 37 and 34 runs respectively, while Jacob Bethell made 40 before being dismissed by Scott Boland.

But all was not well for England. Australia came back into the game with the Bazballers needing less than 50 runs; Jhye Richardson and Mitchell Starc dismissed both Joe Root and Ben Stokes, making the match a tense finish.

Harry Brook and Jamie Smith sealed a four-wicket victory for England at the MCG, their first win in Australia since 2011, while the former would seal the winning streak with a four-out from around the stumps.

England finally ended their 15-year wait to win the Ashes Test against Australia.

Harry Brook flicks a ball around the wicket to reach the final runs of an absolutely frantic Test match that saw England seal a four-wicket victory.

England need just one run to win the Boxing Day Test.

And Jamie Smith and Harry Brook are here to get it…