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Australia Head coach Andrew McDonald said there was a feeling the atmosphere had subsided for next week’s New Year’s Test in Sydney, saying “the Ashes ended 3-0”.
Loose green team takes series win 11 days after win Perth, brisbane and Adelaide But their hopes of a 5-0 victory were dashed when the visitors finally fought back in the two-day tie in Melbourne.
The two teams met for the last time at the SCG on Sunday, with the home team looking for a resounding 4-1 victory, while their opponents were looking to limit their losses with a 3-2 scoreline.
But MacDonald believes the danger is reduced once his team takes ownership of the turf, pointing to World Test Championship (WTC) points as the main objective rather than bragging rights against their old foes.
“The Ashes is safe, it’s done. The Ashes is done,” he said during a net-front drill for the team’s batsmen after the team’s defeat at the MCG.
“There’s a Test match against England that will contribute to the World Test Championship and that’s what we’re keen on, to build up more points.
“The score just means more or less WTC points; I know it sounds simplistic and it’s probably not what people want to hear. It’s England and Australia, it’s an Ashes Test, but the Ashes score is 3-0.”
Speculation is growing that the fifth Test will serve as a farewell for the veteran batsman Usman KhawajaHe turned 39 earlier this month.
He was dropped from the side mid-series, only to get a final reprieve when Steve Smith bowed out on the morning of the third Test, and has since been relegated from the opener to the middle order.
With Australia not playing red-ball cricket again until they face Bangladesh in August, Khawaja is likely to bid farewell on his home ground.
McDonald hopes fans in New South Wales will do the same, even if there is no official announcement before the game.
“If we use Davey Warner as a test case, I think he was dropped at the SCG three years in a row because everyone thought it would be his last Test match,” he joked.
“I’m pretty sure if he hadn’t made a statement about his future before the Test the crowd would still be very supportive of him and clap and cheer for him.
“There was nothing at my end to suggest that he was going to announce that decision in Sydney. It’s still eight months until the next game, so we’ve had a lot of time as a selection group to make a decision… We’ve had a lot of time to think about whether we should go ahead or not.”