England opener Zak Crawley feels that it was a shame not to share some customary drinks after the hard-fought 5-match Ashes series on home soil. England team made a conscious effort to keep the longer format of the game alive since the appointment of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum as they continued their aggressive brand approach in the series on their home soil.
The traditional post-Ashes series drink between the Australian and English squad was not witnessed at The Oval. England beat Australia by 49 runs in the fifth and final Test of the high-octane series. According to reports, the England squad reportedly locked their dressing room after the post-match presentation which sparked a wide range of controversy after the conclusion mouth-watering series.
Speaking on The Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club Podcast, Zak Crawley revealed that the time didn’t work out after the conclusion of the 5th game with Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali leaving the game along with a physio in the team and said that timing didn’t work for the Aussies as it took long for them in the change room.
“It was a shame that, the timing just didn’t work, Obviously both teams do a debrief and ours is usually a bit shorter than it was on Monday night. We had ‘Broady’ (Stuart Broad) leaving, ‘Mo’ (Moeen Ali) leaving and one of the physios was leaving as well.
“So, we had our normal debrief and a send-off for those guys. We were just in there a bit too long and it didn’t quite work for the Aussies. That was a shame. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, the timings just didn’t quite work,” Zak Crawley said.
Ben Stokes’s led side made a stunning comeback into the series after being 2-0, as they outplayed the Aussies team in the last three games of the series and the Pat Cummins-led side was fortunate to draw the game in Manchester after rain spoiled the fifth day’s play.
England decided to undergo a huge overhaul in the Test team in the wake of the humiliating 4-0 loss in the Ashes in Australia. Under Stokes and McCullum, England have completely turned their fortunes around in Tests and have been the best-performing side in the last year.