Ashes 2023: England should have declared at lunch on Day 3 – Glenn McGrath questions Ben Stokes’ tactics

Former legendary Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath has questioned England skipper Ben Stokes’ tactics in the fourth Test match at Old Trafford, Manchester, which ended in a draw after rain played killjoy on the final two days.

McGrath reckons England skipper Ben Stokes should have decided to declare at lunch on the third day’s play when the hosts had a lead of 189 runs. However, the hosts decided to bat on and were eventually bowled out for 592 runs, with Jonny Bairstow remaining unbeaten on 99 runs.

In fact, Stokes had decided to declare at 393-8 in the first innings of the opening Test match at Edgbaston and that decision had surprised a lot of cricket boffins.

After posting a massive score of 592 runs, England took a hu lead of 275 runs but rain was forecasted for the last two days. Only 30 overs were bowled on the penultimate day whereas no play was possible on the final day.

In his column for BBC, Glenn McGrath stated: “England have the attributes to become a great team but the best teams embrace the pressure. They should have declared at lunch and backed themselves to bowl Australia out.”

“England can say they were unlucky but it rained as much as was forecast. Afterwards Stokes talked about the bigger picture, his desire to reenergize the longest format, and that is important. But it is worrying me England might be using that as a tactic to deflect – that they are doing everything they can to take all of the pressure off themselves.”

On the other hand, McGrath hailed Zak Crawley for his brilliant knock of 189 runs off just 182 balls. The England opener took the Australian bowlers to the cleaners as he batted at his absolute best.

“Still, there is much to admire about England and this Test will be remembered for Zak Crawley’s brilliant 189. I have always been a big fan of Crawley and, on the best batting surface of the series, he gave Pat Cummins his most difficult day as Australia captain.”

The fifth and final Test match will be played at Kennington Oval, London from July 27.