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Manchester: England batting coach Graham Gooch is confident Alastair Cook’s side won’t take things easy against Australia in the fifth and final one-day International at Old Trafford here on Tuesday.
England, at 3-0 up, have already won this series and are on a run of nine successive wins in one-day Internationals.
Although a washed out encounter at Edgbaston last week means they can no longer replace Australia as the world’s top ranked side in 50-over cricket this campaign, former England captain Gooch said the chance to defeat their arch-rivals 4-0 was incentive enough for the hosts.
“They have to be delighted with 3-0 but there’s one match to go yet and any match against Australia is a special occasion and certainly I think the players will be looking forward to that game and doing their utmost to make it 4-0,” Gooch said here on Monday.
“It’s always a special thing when Australia visit these shores, they are the big series, whether it’s the Ashes or one-day cricket, there’s a great rivalry between the two sides,” added Gooch.
Gooch said England would have been delighted by a series where wins by 15 runs and six wickets at Lord’s and The Oval, respectively, were followed by an eight-wicket thrashing of Australia at the Riverside on Saturday.
“I think England have got to be happy with the way they have played, they have been very professional, gone about their work in a very positive way and they have taken their cricket to the Australians and the team have obviously got the results,” said Gooch.
And, in what has become something of a mantra for all the England hierarchy, Gooch said the team’s focus was not on the outcome of Tuesday’s clash but the means that would deliver them another victory. (AFP)
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