Captain Ben Stokes joked on Saturday that no one really knows what they are doing when they inspect a wicket before a Test match, as he continues to mull over England’s final line-up for the fifth Ashes clash.
England have named a 12-man squad for Friday’s clash, with seamer Matthew Potts and spinner Shoaib Bashir likely to compete for the team’s only place – depending on what is expected from the field.
That last point wasn’t as simple as it sounds, Stokes said.
“I watched yesterday and I watched the day before too,” he told reporters before training at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), on the eve of the start of the match.
“We try to act like we know what we’re doing when we look at the pitch and scrub it and hit it, but no one really has any idea, to be honest.”
“You can only try to give yourself the best chance of thinking, ‘Okay, what do we need to give us a chance to win this?'”
After a green wicket for the fourth Test in Melbourne gave England a two-day victory, Australia also unusually delayed their squad naming as they considered whether to include a specialist spinner.
From a distance on Saturday, the SCG track appeared to have a distinct green tint as groundskeepers passed over it with the roller.
Victories in the first three matches of the series mean Australia will lift the Ashes urn in triumph at the end of the Test, whatever the result, but Stokes said England’s victory was still an important contest.
“It’s a big game just because we’re representing England,” he said.
“The Ashes, unfortunately for us, didn’t go the way we wanted. But we have one more match in a big series.”
“Even if we can’t get what we came here for, we still have a chance to go there and win a cricket match for England.”
Prior to Melbourne, England had not won a single Test in Australia since early 2011 and the three previous touring teams arrived in Sydney for the final match completely demoralized.
Stokes thought it would be different for his team.
“The one thing you don’t want to see, and I don’t think I will, is just coast through this game and see what happens,” he said.
“We can go home in eight or nine days, but any idea of that can wait until then.”
“It’s what we do over the next five days that is the most important thing, putting absolutely everything we can into the game and giving ourselves the best chance of winning.”
