England out to make history at The Oval - Alastair Cook
Wednesday, 21 August 2013 00:00
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Reuters: England have a great motivation to create history in this week’s fifth and final Ashes test against Australia at The Oval, captain Alastair Cook said on Tuesday.
The home team, who have a 3-0 lead, are looking to win an Ashes series 4-0 for the first time and also inflict the heaviest defeat on Australia in England.
“We don’t need any more motivation, that is enough for us, it always is, to win a test match for England is a big enough motivation,” Cook told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday.
“(But) we’ve got a lot of record-breakers in this team and the chance to add another little notch I suppose is great motivation.”
Despite England’s batting line-up struggling at times during the series, the hosts have consistently won key moments throughout.
Cook, though, said a 4-0 win would not necessarily provide a psychological edge for the return series in Australia later in the year.
“It would be one of those strange things, when you get to Australia we’ll be saying ‘what’s gone has gone’ and has no relevance to that first hour in Brisbane,” he added.
“But sitting here now as a side, those little things we can use to put Australia under pressure in certain areas of their play, we know that will hopefully count when we go down to Australia.”
Pacemen Steven Finn and Chris Woakes plus left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan have been called into the squad for the final test, with Tim Bresnan and Graham Onions out due to injury.
Chris Tremlett appears most likely to replace Bresnan in the playing XI. Cook said a final decision would be announced at the toss.
