England not new to tough challenges: Batting coach on 608 chase vs India

India Today

Marcus Trescothick said England aren’t too worried about the 608-run chase, backing the team’s belief under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum to adapt and fight despite being in a tough position against India.

Transcript

00:00You may have heard some of the fans singing towards the end their stand-up,

00:03if you still believe, and there was quite a few people standing up.

00:06Are you one of them, do you believe?

00:07We were all stood up in the change room, yeah.

00:10Yeah, I think, of course, they're great support here, as we know.

00:15And that's the position of the team.

00:17We're always trying to be as positive as we can.

00:20I think we all probably appreciate it's a hell of a lot of runs to try and score.

00:25I think it's 550 tomorrow, and I don't think we've seen scoring rates quite that quick in a day.

00:33So, you know, of course, challenging.

00:35It will be challenging.

00:36But I think, you know, we've got a few overs, probably about another 10 to 15 overs

00:41with the balls at the hardest point before it gets a little bit soft.

00:45And then we'll see how we're going from that point, really.

00:48I think things have changed since you were a player.

00:50Is there a point, will there ever be a point where you'll say to the lads,

00:55stick those shots in the shelf and play for the draw?

00:59I don't think we use that sort of language.

01:01It's not the sort of change room that we are.

01:04But we're not naive enough to know that it's a very challenging total that you sort of play.

01:09You know, do you just go in your bunker and just sort of dig it out?

01:13And, you know, some players may do that.

01:15You just don't know, really.

01:16And it's individuals that can sort of adapt to the game and understand what's happening.

01:21But, you know, you've got to understand our change room is a different type of culture

01:26in terms of what we've done in the past.

01:28And I just wonder, you know, did how long it took India to declare

01:34and how big they allowed the total to get?

01:36Was that a strange kind of feather in your cap that maybe they thought 500 you would do?

01:42I don't know.

01:44I think I expected it to sort of be sort of 550, I thought,

01:47was going to be around the sort of target they would set.

01:51But it is what it is, right?

01:53You're sitting there as an opposition trying to make a judgment call

01:56on when they're going to make that call.

01:58And fair enough, they make their own decisions after that.

02:04Coach, I just want to ask that, is this the most challenging, you know,

02:08the day coming up, knowing that it's the biggest as far as the total

02:13your boys are going to, you know, about to chase?

02:17Is this the most challenging day for the so-called basketball era?

02:21It'd be a challenging day, no doubt.

02:24I think, you know, we've had various test matches over the period of time

02:27that Brendan and Ben have been in charge and the way that we've gone about things.

02:33Sometimes we've got them really good and we've done them really well.

02:36And other times we haven't.

02:38So, you know, we've had challenges.

02:40We've had various different games where we've won a loss.

02:42So we kind of know the situation.

02:46You know the score you've got to try and chase.

02:50Let's just wait and see.

02:51But, of course, it will be challenging.

02:54Marcus, do you see a difference in the skills of the, you know,

02:59the fast bowlers from the two teams?

03:02It's the way the English bowlers have, fast bowlers have bowled

03:05and the way Aakash Deep and Mohamed Siraj have bowled.

03:11With respect, no, not really.

03:13I think, you know, both teams have got good bowling groups.

03:16I think India have used the new ball really well and, you know,

03:22bowled the ball in the right place and got the rewards.

03:24I think if you look back to day one, you know, we had, what did we have,

03:28three LBW shouts where we thought were pretty close.

03:32Didn't go in our way, as it can and can do in this game.

03:35So it could have been different at that point.

03:37But you're both very good bowlers in both teams.

03:41So I don't think it's too much difference.

03:45Marcus, would you accept that a draw is a good result from here?

03:50I think whenever the situation is challenging, of course it is.

03:53I think, you know, if you get to the point where you can draw the game, of course.

03:58We're not stupid enough to understand that, you know, you have to just win or lose.

04:02You know, there is three results possible in every game that you play.

04:05But we have done some things in our time that we are different to what we've done before.

04:13So we'll see what happens.

04:14And in that session of batting tonight, did you see anything in that pitch

04:17that suggests England shouldn't be able to bat 90 overs with seven wickets in hand tomorrow?

04:22Well, I think you could see from our first innings, right?

04:26So we were three down overnight.

04:28We came out the next day.

04:29Obviously, we lost a couple of early wickets.

04:31And then we had a monster partnership that's really sort of put us back to, you know,

04:36getting back into the game.

04:37So it's definitely possible.

04:39I think once the ball goes softer, it definitely gets a little bit easier

04:43and hasn't seemed as much as what it does when it's new.

04:46So if we can potentially bat a bit better or maybe not lose the two wickets that we did

04:52straight up on the morning of day three, then who knows?

04:57Sorry, Marcus.

04:58Just to be, like, really blunt and clear about it, down in the dressing room right now

05:03at the end of today, is the message still, we can win this game?

05:08I think we're talking positive language in terms of how we go about it.

05:12And let's just remind ourselves about the difference that we do.

05:16We are a different team to potentially what we've had in the past.

05:20And the idea that we don't do draws, I know what you've just said to Will, but is that

05:24almost a, I guess, there's some things that the team has done a little bit differently

05:29this time, say the way that they chased it headingly.

05:32Is there, I guess, a bit of flexibility in the thinking when it comes to that mantra?

05:37Of course there is, yeah.

05:38Absolutely.

05:39This has kind of been built up away from probably what the changing room messages are.

05:44So, yeah, I think you guys have a perception of what you think goes on in the changing room

05:49and obviously we understand it a little bit more in the perception of what we're trying

05:55to do.

05:55So we're trying to give the players the best opportunity to win games every time that we

06:00go out to play.

06:01And then if we can't do that, then we try and adapt accordingly and plan ahead to what

06:06we're going to try and do.

06:09Is Joe Root and Ben Stokes' form with the bat a concern in the dressing room?

06:17No.

06:19No.

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