Ben Stokes determined to prevent Australia from enjoying Ashes Test series victory

The weather scuppered England’s hopes of cementing a dominant performance in the fourth Test in Manchester with victory with five of the last six sessions in the match lost to rain.

It means that, with just one Test to play, Australia retain the Ashes, just like they did four years ago when they rebounded from a Stokes-inspired win at Headingley to triumph at Old Trafford to enjoy an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series.

“Test cricket is five days. I don’t ever see there being a reserve day in a series like this,” said England’s talismanic captain, Stokes.

“This is the way it’s always been. We know we can’t get the urn back but we can draw the series and that’s what we’ll be trying to do.”

There is precious little time for Stokes to rally his troops for that challenge, with the fifth and final Test at The Oval starting on Thursday.

Whether England can carry their momentum through remains to be seen, but the prospect of denying Australia a first series win on these shores since 2001 is a motivation in its own right.

“We have to get over the disappointment and focus on that game,” added Stokes. “It is a massive one for us and we know 2-2 sounds a lot better than 3-1.

“The mentality and mindset within this dressing room is to go out and win. Every time we walk out on the field that’s all I encourage the players to do, just concentrate on what you need to do as an individual to influence a game in the right way.

“There’s no doubt if we’d managed to get a result in this game next week would have been a very, very special week in the history of English cricket, not just Ashes cricket. But we’ll be treating it as we do every other game.

“We’re always putting our front foot forward and trying to press the game as hard as we possibly can. As a captain that’s something that makes me very proud as a leader of the 10 other guys out there.”