Business as usual for adaptable Australia despite absences

SYDNEY, Jan 8 : ‌Australia's squad mentality enabled them to trounce England 4-1 in the Ashes despite being without a handful of top players, Player of the Series Mitchell Starc said after the fifth test victory on Thursday.

Starc, who took 31 wickets, was the only one of the quartet of bowlers that have kept Australia at the top of the game for a decade to play all five tests.

Regular captain Pat Cummins played just one as he battled a back problem, spinner Nathan Lyon managed two before being sidelined by a hamstring problem and Josh Hazlewood was ruled out before the series started.

Added ‌to that, Australia needed an emergency opener in the series opener in Perth when Usman ‌Khawaja suffered back spasms and was unable to bat in the second innings.

Travis Head took up the role and kept it for the remainder of the series, notching three such influential centuries that he was unlucky to miss out to Starc for Player of the Series honours.

After stand-in skipper Steve Smith had paid tribute to Starc's "incredible" performances in the post-match press conference, the 35-year-old returned the compliment.

"Okay, Pat wasn't there, but we have someone who's captained the team so much in the past, has a great cricket brain. It was business ‍as usual," Starc said.

"I think Steve's captained phenomenally well through the series, was ahead of the game, ahead of England for a lot of it.

"And then, whether it be the different batters, different Trav opening, different bowling setups, we knew as a group that we had the guys that could fill different roles and be adaptable in different situations."

LITTLE MOMENTS

Starc said that was not a recent development and that the team ​had been fully confident the likes of fast ‌bowlers Scott