Tim Paine has refuted Jofra Archer’s claim that Australia panicked as Ben Stokes led England to victory at Headingley – but admits he made”mistakes” since the tourists spurned the chance to retain the Ashes.
Australia had England nine wickets down with 73 runs needed from the next Test in Leeds but a combination of Stokes’ brilliant 135 not out, a dropped catch, a collapsed run out and wasted reviews saw that the hosts pull off a remarkable win and keep the series alive.
Asked whether Australia had choked, skipper Paine, speaking ahead of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, said:”No. I’ve addressed it before. Jofra is entitled to his view – he’s had plenty of those, that’s for sure.
“We made some mistakes, it happens – we’ve addressed it as a team and spoken about it honestly. I was one of those folks who made mistakes, I would have done a few things differently with my field placings.
“There were also times, looking back , where it was apparent I should have had the field up and enabled Ben to strike a couple of bounds so that we had more balls at the tailender (Jack Leach).
“That’s the principal thing I would have done otherwise. It occurs in cricket and we have moved on, learnt from it, and we’re ready for yet another wonderful Test match.”
Quick Mitchell Starc could be handed his very first appearance of the show by australia when he picked up seven wickets in the innings last week thrashing of Derbyshire.
Starc appears to be obsessed together with James Pattinson rested with Peter Siddle for the final spot alongside Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins also is in a squad.
Usman Khawaja was axed, however, after averaging 20.33 in the No 3 berth from the show so far, with a high rating of 40.
About Starc’s chances of playing at Manchester, Paine said:”They’re good. He is therefore he is shut. We’ll have a look in the wicket – it looks fairly dry and it has got a bit of pace.
“Starcy bowled superbly last week in Derby. He’s been working hard on becoming his span right and we were very impressed.
“We all know what he could do to tail-end batters if he cranks it up. The boys are calling ‘the mop’ for a couple of years now.
“He’s is a great solution for us. We believe this wicket could suit him , if we make that phone, we’re convinced he’ll do a excellent job.”
Paine added on Khawaja function as man to overlook Steve Smith currently fit to come back following a concussion. “Usman is a key player but he hasn’t scored the runs that he or we’d like.
“With Smith coming back it was a difficult decision to make on Usman.
“We still think he’s got a lot of cricket left in him. He has had a very good Test record on his career and we all expect that he will bounce back quite closely.”
Watch day one of those fourth Ashes Test live from 10am on Wednesday on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports The Ashes.
You could even follow over-by-over comment and in-play clips onto our rolling blog on skysports.com along with the Sky Sports program.

Read more here: https://nuni.or.id/?p=10101