Sunday 23 August 2015 18:29, UK
Australia coach Darren Lehmann was proud of his team's victory in the fifth Investec Ashes Test at The Oval – but admitted England deserved their series win.
The tourists won the dead rubber at The Oval by an innings and 46 runs, but went down 3-2 in the series.
Lehmann said: "That's how we should play. It's a good fightback after losing the Ashes. To play that way was a lot better. But full credit to England. They deserved to win the Ashes. They outplayed us.
"If you look at all the stats, I think we had three of the top five run-getters, and four of the top five bowlers. But they won the key moments and we didn't do that. We won this Test match and Lord's but…not good enough in the others.
"It was an unbelievable series – none of them went five days. I think once they got on top they really kept the pedal to the metal and really pushed hard for the victory."
Much was made throughout the series about some of the selection decisions made by the Australians. The omission of Peter Siddle at Trent Bridge – where he has huge experience having played for Nottinghamshire – was one major talking point.
Sky Sports expert Shane Warne believes the selection panel made some crucial mistakes, but Lehmann insists they got most of their decisions right.
"I don't think we were too bad to be honest. I know Warney gives it a lot," he added. "That's the way Shane Warne is. From our point of view we might have messed up at Trent Bridge – the Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh [decision, when Mitchell was dropped for his batsman brother].
"There are a lot of things behind the scenes when you are making decisions – we are obviously trying to get it right as best as we can. You have to work out what is going to win the game, what is going to get you 20 wickets."
"We put some faith in our two left-armers – whether that was the right balance or not, we might have to look back on that."
Lehmann did hint however that there is some doubt whether they were right to select both their left-arm fast bowlers, Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc.
"We put some faith in our two left-armers – whether that was the right balance or not, we might have to look back on that," he said.
Lehmann admits he would like to see more Australians playing county cricket so they can get used to playing in English conditions.
Their batsmen were consistently found out against the swinging and seaming ball.
"All the great players have played county cricket in the past, and it's a great experience for them," he said. "It's harder now with the schedule. Counties want to have them for the whole year. For us that's a challenge and it's probably the same for English players in Australia."
But Lehmann remains optimistic for the future.
"It's a fantastic challenge for us," he said. "Obviously we've lost one of our greats today [the retiring Michael Clarke] and Chris Rogers as well, who has been a fantastic player for us. A new captain, a new vice-captain - we'll move forwards."
