Trescothick advocates draw as a sufficient result for England as he hints England will have to “adapt” with 536 more runs required.
Following India’s dominance on day four, England has acknowledged that obtaining just their second draw in the last three years would be a respectable outcome at Edgbaston. Their assistant coach, Marcus Trescothick, warned that England would need to “adapt” with seven wickets remaining on the last day and 536 more runs needed, but he refused to rule out an early victory.
Trescothick grinned as he revealed that England’s coaching staff joined the supporters in the Eric Hollies Stand when they sang “stand up if you still believe” during the last hour of play on Saturday. “That’s the position of the team: we are always trying to be as positive as we can,” he stated.
“We all probably appreciate that it’s a hell of a lot of runs to try and score. It’s 550 [536] tomorrow and I don’t think we’ve seen scoring rates quite that quick in a day, so of course it will be challenging. But we’ve probably about another 10 to 15 overs of the balls at the hardest point before it gets a little bit soft, and then we’ll see how we’re going from that point, really.”
Asked if a draw could be considered a good result, Trescothick said: “Whenever the situation is changing, of course it is. When you get to the point that you can [only] draw the game, of course.
“We’re not stupid enough to [think] that you have to just win or lose. There are three results possible in every game that you play. But we have done some things in our time that are different to what we’ve done before.”