Marcus Trescothick, England’s batting coach, has not ruled out playing for a draw on the final day of the second Test against India at Edgbaston in Birmingham, where the Three Lions need 536 runs to win with seven wickets in hand.
Since Brendon McCullum took over as England Test coach and forged a partnership with captain Ben Stokes, the European nation has been known to chase down totals in the fourth innings. They have not been afraid to set ambitious goals. They chased down a 371-run total against India in the first Test.
However, given the near-impossible aim they face on Day 5 of the second Test, Marcus Trescothick said that playing for a draw is a strategy they will not abandon.
“I believe that whenever a situation is challenging, it must be. I believe you will be able to draw the game if you reach that point. We’re not naive enough to grasp that you can either win or lose; there are three possible outcomes in any game you play. But we’ve done certain things in our time that are different from what we’ve done in the past, so we’ll see what happens,” Trescothick said during the news conference following the day’s play.
“I don’t believe we use that type of terminology. It’s not the type of change room that we are, but we’re not so naive that we don’t realise it’s a very difficult total to play. Do you just go into your bunker and dig it out? Some players may do this. You just don’t know who can adapt to the game and grasp what’s going on, but you have to understand our locker room. “It’s a different type of culture than what we’ve done before,” he noted.
England faces a daunting 608-run total after India declared at 427/6 in their second innings. On Day 4, Mohammed Siraj dismissed Zak Crawley, while Akash Deep dismissed Ben Duckett and Joe Root, as England fought back to 72/3 in 16 overs at Stumps.
India
