Cook 'greedy' for a win at The Oval

Cricket365
August 14, 2013

England captain Alastair Cook was overjoyed after his side won the Ashes in Durham on Monday, taking the fourth Test against Australia by 74 runs, and said the crowd's reaction would stay with him for a long time.

At one stage on day four, which went into an extra half hour for England to win, Australia actually looked like they could get the 299 required, and were on 147 for one. But Graeme Swann got the breakthrough, Tim Bresnan got vital wickets, and Stuart Broad took seven wickets in very little time.

As such, England won the Ashes three nil, with a game to go at The Oval, and Australia rued throwing away the chance to keep the series on track for an overall draw. Cook was left in awe by the Riverside Ground's reaction to the win.

The skipper said: "It was a great celebration. To take nine wickets in the session, have the support of the crowd and everything that went with that, and experience all the excitement and nerves was fantastic. That was the moment for us.

"We're going to get greedy I think and want to try to repeat that at The Oval, but we can think about that with some sore heads tomorrow. We need to enjoy what has been a very special day, and one which I'm certainly going to look back on with huge fondness."

Fast bowler Stuart Broad was the stand-out performer for England on day four, taking seven wickets in just a few afternoon hours after Australia had looked well on their way to chasing down the score. Broad ended up taking a career-best 11/121 for the match.

Cook added of Broad's fiery effort on day four: "It was a fine spell of bowling, although that's probably not a strong enough adjective. We all knew how important that session was, and he really charged in for us.

"When everything clicks, and it's just doing enough, bowling at high 80s with the control Broad has, it's incredibly hard to bat against.

"I said that against New Zealand, in that spell at Lord's when he got seven wickets there (in May). It was very similar to that, although this was more important in terms of the situation of the game.

"Words can't justify how good a spell of bowling that was. I think Broady will also recognise the job Tim Bresnan did at the other end. You talk about bowling in partnerships and that's what happened."