The Australia head coach, Andrew McDonald, does not agree that his side was saved by rain on the fifth day at Old Trafford, and is confident they have been the better team across the Ashes series. “Yep,” was his one-word response when that question was put to him after the fourth Test was washed out on Sunday, an assessment resting on the fact that they had secured the trophy by dint of winning the first two Tests.
As for the assumption that the weather had robbed England of a 2-2 scoreline before the fifth Test, McDonald says otherwise, with his team 60 runs behind with five wickets in hand. “We still had some batters to come. We could have shifted some pressure. So it feels as though we sit here and [say] it was a foregone conclusion that England were going to win the game – I don’t believe that and that change room upstairs doesn’t believe that.”
