Skipper Steven Smith heaps praise on Australia's bowling unit for big victory over England to win Ashes 4-0 at SCG
Skipper Steve Smith holds the Ashes urn as Australia celebrate in the SCG dressing room yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
Skipper Steve Smith holds the Ashes urn as Australia celebrate in the SCG dressing room yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
Captain Steven Smith has praised the collective efforts of his "exceptional" four front-line bowlers for contributing to Australia's crushing 4-0 Ashes series win over England yesterday. The Australians rounded off a dominant five-match series with an innings and 123-run hammering of the beleaguered tourists on the final day of the fifth Sydney Test.
Mitchell Starc, John Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and spinner Nathan Lyon all finished with 20 or more wickets in the series to take 87 in total to dominate the England batsmen.
ADVERTISEMENT
Despite this, Smith was not prepared to rate them higher than the quartet of Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Lyon, who bowled Australia to a 5-0 whitewash in the last Ashes series in Australia in 2013-14. "I think all the bowlers did an exceptional job," he told reporters. "Each of our bowlers have over 20 wickets which showed that the guys have bowled together as a group, bowled in partnerships, bowled for one another and helped us take the 80-odd wickets that we've needed to take four Test matches."
Australia pacer Pat Cummins celebrates the dismissal of England’s Jonny Bairstow (left) in Sydney yesterday. Pic/AFP
But he stopped short of declaring them a better bowling unit than their predecessors four years ago. They are all great bowlers. I can't put any of them ahead of each other," he said. Cummins, who captured four for 39 to finish man-of-the-match in Sydney, finished as the leading wicket-taker in the series with 23 at 24.65 and played in all five Tests.
Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here
Download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
