Ashes: England, Trescothick bemoan umpire’s ‘light’ decision
England batting coach Marcus Trescothick said he and his fellow coaches in the pavilion were surprised when umpires asked them to sideline Mark Wood and English seamers because of perceived low light conditions. Both Joe Root and Moeen Ali bowled England’s last 13 overs, with Root picking up the all-important wicket of Marnus Labuschagne.
“We were sat on the balcony and we didn’t think [the light] had deteriorated that much to not allow the seamers to bowl,” Trescothick said. “Obviously the umpires out in the middle deemed it was too dark. They’ve got to make that decision. It didn’t feel like it from where we were. But if that’s what we’re given then that’s what we’ll take. Any opportunity to get out in the middle we’ll be grabbing with both hands.”
The umpires have called stumps…
That will be the end of play on Day 4 🤝 #EnglandCricket | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/s8YpGRwy8V
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 22, 2023
England go into the final day of the fourth Test looking to pick up Australia’s final five wickets and eventually even the Ashes series. Despite predictions of rain, one bit of silver lining for them was the late dismissal of Labuschagne – one that places the match delicately in the balance. Trescothick had words of praise for Root after stumps on Day 4.
“He’s a little bit of a golden arm, isn’t he?” Trescothick said of Root, according to ESPNCricinfo. “He just has that ability to come in, two or three overs here, a little spell now and again and just pick up one or two wickets and he has a good knack of doing that.
“We know how good a player he (Labuschagne) is. It’s a big, big player out of the way on a decent pitch. So we’ve still got a decent amount of work to do, it’s not going to be a case of turning up and the ball is going to swing around with a new ball all over the place and nip about, and we’ll roll them over in ten overs. I think we’re going to need a bit more time and a bit more graft than that, but there’s one less person that we have to knock over, which is important”
