SYDNEY: Captain Ben Stokes on Saturday called the fifth and final Test against Australia a “huge game” for England and vowed there would be no coasting at the end of a long and draining Ashes tour.

The tourists go into the clash on Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Ground buoyed by a four-wicket win inside two days at the previous Test in Melbourne.

It snapped a 15-year winless streak in Australia but came too late to save the series with the hosts retaining the urn by winning in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.

Stokes said it was important to keep the momentum going.

“This is a big game, purely because we’re walking out there representing England,” he said.

“The Ashes, unfortunately for us, hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to, but we’ve got one more game in a big series.

“And it’s a real big one for us. So although we can’t get the thing that we came here for, we’ve still got a chance to go there and win a game of cricket.”

Stokes, whose side has been hounded by the media in Australia and come under enormous pressure back home, added that there was no room for complacency and it had been made clear to the players.

“I don’t think it will happen, just sort of coasting through this game and seeing what happens,” he said. “This is a huge game for us... it’s going to take all 11 of us to go out there and get on the right side of the result like we managed to do last week.

“So although we get to go home on eight or nine days’ time, any thought of that can wait till then. It’s about what we do over the next five days, that’s the most important thing.”

England named a 12-man squad on Friday with seamer Matthew Potts and spinner Shoaib Bashir included.

Potts is the only unused fast bowler from their original 16-man squad and is set to play after Gus Atkinson limped off with a hamstring issue in Melbourne.

Bashir and Will Jacks are expected to vie for the final spot.

Australia captain Steve Smith on Saturday said a final look at the wicket was needed before the hosts decided on their starting XI.

Stokes said England also needed more time, but admitted no one really knew how the wicket would play despite captains and coaches pretending they did.

“I mean, we try and act like we know what we’re doing when we’re looking down at the pitch and rubbing it and knocking it -- no one really has a clue to be honest,” he said.

“You can only just try and give yourself the best chance of thinking: right, what 11 do we need to give us a chance of winning this?

Smith said he had no end date to call time on his career. With the retirement of Usman Khawaja after the Test and Nathan Lyon out injured, Smith will be the oldest player in the Australian line-up alongside Scott Boland.

Asked if he would still be playing at the next Ashes in England in 2027, the 36-year-old was non-committal, but said he was enjoying his cricket.

“I’ve said it for a while, I’m taking it day-by-day, series-by-series, and we’ll see where things land,” said Smith, who has played 122 Tests and scored more than 10,000 runs.

“I feel like I’m doing alright at the moment, I’m enjoying it, I’m contributing, and having fun. So there’s no real end date for me.

“I think with obviously Usman dropping off, he’s one of our experienced players, so it probably wouldn’t be ideal if him and I went out this week, for instance,” he added. “So no, I want to keep playing.”

Khawaja, 39, announced his retirement on Friday, culminating a career where it began after making his debut at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2011, also against England.

Smith paid tribute to his long-time teammate, but refused to be drawn on the Pakistan-born player’s claims of “racial stereotyping” during his career.

“I’m not going into the mind of Usman Khawaja,” he said.

Khawaja claimed the way he was treated by media and former players after he played golf before the first Test in Perth and could not bat because of back spasms amounted to “the same racial stereotypes” he had always dealt with.

“I think he’s always prepared the same way, he’s worked hard and I think some of the stuff around him getting injured when he played golf the day before the game, that was unfair,” said Smith. “He’s done that for 15 years and had a pretty good career.”

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2026