Ben Stokes may regret his attacking approach to the Ashes after what England great David Gower sees as a missed opportunity.
England have transformed their red-ball fortunes under captain Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, winning 13 of their 18 Tests after embracing a free-flowing, attacking mentality in the longest format.
An Ashes series victory proved a challenge too great, though, with England recovering from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 – a result that saw Australia retain the urn.
Stokes' tactics have come into question, with England's insistence on attacking sometimes their downfall, and Gower believes the all-rounder may look back with slight regret.
Gower told Stats Perform: "Stokes says that he doesn't want to worry about hindsight, which doesn't win you any games and all the rest of it.
"But there will be thoughts along those lines, because when they look at it next year, it says 2-2 and you were part of that team that could have regained The Ashes.
"Stokes could have been At The Oval, with that little urn in his hand saying I have regained the Ashes or you better say 'we' with this team ethic.
"That would be there again for all to see for the rest of history. But I'm afraid it’s not quite the case."
While Gower suggested Stokes may reconsider his plans at a future date, the former England captain still hailed the new approach against the red ball.
He added: "My view is a mixture of old and new. I love the new approach, especially the culture that Stokes and McCullum have bred in the team since that partnership came together last year.
"I'd imagine that playing in that dressing room must be an enormous pleasure because it takes the pressure off a bad day, takes the pressure off failure, and it encourages people to look ahead.
"The one thing that could have made this series different is being slightly more match aware, slightly smarter at key moments.
"England could have made more runs in the second innings at Edgbaston, put themselves further ahead, played Australia a little bit further out of the game made it harder for them to win the game. In the end, Australia win the game.
"England could have batted like Stokes did at Lord's when the bouncer barrage was coming, Stokes took the blows to the body, and others played shots that got them out.
"There was a collapse from 180 for none, as it were, suddenly were 200 for plenty. And things like that change games in Test cricket.
"Five-day cricket is all about sustaining the effort and the quality throughout, but a bad hour or a bad session can cost you games and that's what happened at Lord's."
A high-quality Ashes series was likely only robbed of a winner due to the rain at Old Trafford, where the fourth Test was washed out on the weekend with England in the ascendancy.
Australia return Down Under with the urn but Gower believes – despite the thrilling encounters – both sides may look back with some sense of a missed opportunity.
He continued: "I think for both teams, at the end of the series, Australia looked a bit muted, because although they retained the Ashes, they struggled in the last three games.
"Australia would have rued the fact they let things slide a little bit, at the same time I'd give all the credit to England, for the way they played their cricket to put the pressure back on Australia.
"It was interesting to watch the Australians, they had a very brief celebration in front of the crowd at The Oval but it wasn't sort of leaping up and down saying we've held the Ashes.
"You don't do laps of honour when you've drawn a series, you do laps of honour at the MCG when you have won The Ashes Down Under. Graeme Swann and the sprinkler and all the rest of it.
"It was probably almost a feeling of, actually, we've put everything on the field. They put everything into that series, both sides.
"At the end of it, not so much a relief but a sort of acknowledgement, that 2-2 is probably fair. You sit down and you feel relief, it's a shame that it's all over.
"People would have loved to see this thing, carry on almost you play 10 Tests, keep up the intensity, keep up the rivalry. But there's also a sort of sense of well, it's over now.
"You cast your mind back to all the ups and downs of six, seven weeks of high-pressure cricket."
IPL: Yadav century ends Mumbai's losing streak in style
Suryakumar Yadav scored an unbeaten century to lead Mumbai Indians to a seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Monday.
Yadav hit a sensational 102 not out off 51 balls with six maximums as Mumbai successfully chased a target of 174 with 16 balls to spare, lifting them off the foot of the table.
Despite a slow start to the Indians' innings in which SRH took three wickets in the first five overs, Yadav’s introduction turned things around as he put on a partnership of 143 with Tilak Varma (37 not-out).
Sunrisers had started well, with Travis Head reeling off a quick 48, but Piyush Chawla (3-33) and Hardik Pandya (3-31) limited Hyderabad to 173-8, with Anshul Kamboj claiming his maiden IPL wicket by bowling out Mayank Agarwal.
Pat Cummins finished with a flurry, knocking 35 runs from 17 balls, and the Australia captain helped SRH put the Indians on the ropes when he dismissed Rohit Sharma in the fourth over.
Yet Mumbai would lose only one more wicket as Yadav inspired them to victory that snapped a four-match losing run.
Data Debrief: Yadav star of the show
This was Yadav's first IPL hundred of the season, with his knock including 18 boundaries (12 fours, six sixes), taking him up to 334 runs so far this campaign.
He is 16th in the overall rankings, and some 108 runs behind leader Virat Kohli.
Matthews among nominees for ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for April
West Indies Women’s Captain Hayley Matthews has been named among three nominees for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for April.
A past winner of the award and current holder of the ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year, Matthews is another top-ranked performer to have grabbed headlines in April.
The 26-year-old skipper piled on the runs in her six outings for the West Indies, notching two brilliant ODI centuries followed by back-to-back half-centuries in the T20I contests against Pakistan.
Alongside her 451 runs in April, Matthews also flourished with the ball, taking 12 wickets; six in the ODI matches at an average of 14, and six more in the T20Is at 10.50.
Matthews’ competition for the award are South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt and Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu.
The South African opener is looking to claim her maiden Player of the Month award in what is her fourth nomination, and is a strong contender after another historic series of displays in April.
Wolvaardt started the month with a half-century in the final T20I contest against Sri Lanka before carrying her excellent form into the ODI series.
Her innings of 41 in the first match preceded an emphatic 110 not out in the second to claim a vital win, but the 25-year-old saved her best score for the last game, blasting a national record score of 184 in 147 balls only for South Africa to be outdone by the brilliance of Athapaththu.
Athapaththu, last year’s ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year, continued her dominance in the 50-over format, reclaiming the top spot in the ICC Women’s ODI Batting rankings after a stellar showing in April.
Records tumbled for the Sri Lanka skipper, thanks to a sparkling unbeaten 195 in Potchefstroom against South Africa as the tourists won in a record run chase.
258 ODI runs was complemented by 148 runs in T20Is, which included two half-centuries in South Africa, plus another against Scotland in the ongoing Women’s T20WC Qualifier in Abu Dhabi, where Sri Lanka eventually sealed their qualification thanks to semi-final success on Sunday.
Knight Riders dispatch Super Giants to move top of IPL
Kolkata Knight Riders moved to the top of the Indian Premier League courtesy of a 98-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants.
Sunil Narine hit a sensational 81 from 39 balls, and he was ably supported by Ramandeep Singh's 25 from six deliveries, as KKR reeled off a third straight win on Sunday.
Ramandeep enjoyed a great day in the field too, as he took one of the catches of the season as LSG managed just 137 in response to KKR's 235.
Phil Salt struck 32, but it was fellow opener Narine who did the damage for KKR.
Ravi Bishnoi eventually ended his stand, but only when KKR had reached 140. Angkrish Raghuvanshi (32) had to be substituted out, but Shreyas Iyer added a useful 23 before Ramandeep hammered 25 from just an overs' worth of deliveries.
KL Rahul (25) and Marcus Stoinis (36) tried to get Lucknow going either side of Ramandeep's spectacular catch to dismiss Arshin Kulkarni, but the Super Giants never set the pace to truly trouble Kolkata.
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