Finally, the D word has entered England’s vocabulary. While Marcus Trescothick, the assistant coach, said the team “are always trying to be as positive as we can”, in the face of needing 536 runs with seven wickets standing to beat India on the final day, he acknowledged: “You don’t have to just win or lose.” A dressing room that is normally fixated on winning is finally coming to terms with a different result – not defeat, but a draw.
As the final day at Edgbaston dawns on Sunday, the prospect of victory will be laughably remote, with India’s seamers in form and still fresh and England pursuing a target fully 190 higher than anything that has been successfully chased in the entire history of Test cricket.
