Australia have been quite passive in Ashes 2023, trying to sit back and force England to make mistakes: Alastair Cook

England were deemed to be the favourites to win the 2023 Ashes and bring back the urn after eight long years. While their aggressive approach in Test cricket was the talk of the town, Australia came up with a perfect gameplan to tackle the Bazball as they retained the Ashes after the fourth Test in Manchester finished on level terms due to rain.

Meanwhile, decoding Australia’s tactics, former England skipper Alastair Cook stated that the visitors have been quite passive in the series, waiting for England to make mistakes and capitalising upon those. Cook went on to add that England’s bold declaration in Edgbaston is not where the team lost mentally but the brand of cricket Australia played made the difference.

“I don’t put it down to that declaration. England were ahead pretty much all the way in that first Test. The opportunity missed was at the end. How many times would you back yourself as a side for 50 runs with 2 wickets left? Let’s say 9 times out of 10, to win that game. But ironically, that was the first and the only time in this series when Australia have been aggressive towards England. That Pat Cummins innings when Carey got out, he was suddenly on the front foot. He got a great reward for a great innings," Cook was quoted as saying by News18.

“Australia have been quite passive in this series, trying to sit back and force England to make mistakes. Which, I’d say, is an unusual Australian way. If they win the series 3-1, they can put down their beers aside and say, ‘We got that tactic right,’” he added.

The 38-year-old also added saying that England deserves to win the fifth and final Test at Oval and level the series 2-2, as he believes that the Ben Stokes-led side played more aggressively and deserves to finish the series on level terms.

"But it feels like England would have deserved 2-2. Probably, they dominated more days than Australia have," he added.