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However, with Root galvanising the middle order and crop of talented players emerging, this team look poised to avoid the pitfalls that have led to previous England Ashes winners soon falling apart. “The boys did as I asked, it was a test of our character and we came...

At stumps on the second day of the fifth Test, England had slumped to 107 for eight in reply to Australia’s first innings 481 – a huge deficit of 374 runs.

A basic and depended platform which was layed by the started leaders such as David warner, Chris Rogers and have to return back from Steve Smith which has to took Australia to 3 to 287 after a day passed against the England.

That was in 2013. It is not as if the batsmen are on top either.

Moeen Ali struck twice in the final over before lunch as England’s Ashes winners fought back on the second morning of the fifth test at the Kia Oval. But if Australia pile up 500, and England chase the rest of this game, Australia will be considerably more buoyant going...

With this wicket began England’s collapse. It was 27 deliveries before he scored the next eight runs to reach his century, which he then celebrated with a heave over long-off for six.

He has watched England’s success this summer from afar, but enthusiastically.

Michael Clarke will retire as possibly the greatest Australian cricketer ever to have never won an Ashes series in England. Unfortunately, he could knock off just 15 of those before a booming bouncer from Ben Stokes induced a faint edge.

So why, then, has it become more hard to win as an away side?

Australia started that series badly, but by the end of it had improved markedly and sown the seeds of the whitewash to follow.

“I’m really comfortable with our curators; you trust them, you know what they’re going to do”.

Australia’s Head Coach Darren Lehmann, left, and Michael Clarke, right, in conversation after England beat Australia by an innings and 78 runs to win the Ashes during day three of the fourth Ashes Test cricket match, at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England, Saturday, August 8 2015.

While the final test is a victory lap for England, there might be more at stake for the beleaguered Australians.

That burden has now been laid to rest, leaving Cook with a final opportunity to produce a major Ashes innings, one to add to his 27 Test centuries, an England record.

“If Cooky believed the stress he was under was affecting the team, he’d have stood down but he believed he should absorb the pressure himself and deflect it away from the players”.