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,” he added.