Rain played spoilsport in the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford and robbed England of an opportunity to level the series 2-2.
The final day’s play at Old Trafford got abandoned due to incessant rain on Sunday (July 23), leaving the Three Lions frustrated as they needed only five wickets to clinch the Test match after having dominated Australia with both bat and ball over the course of the first three days.
The Manchester draw also led to England conceding the urn. Subsequently, star batter Joe Root came up with a suggestion to help combat bad weather and slow over-rates by extending Test sessions into the evening.
“It doesn’t get dark here in England until 10pm in the summer, why can’t we just play until we bowl the overs?” said Root while speaking to BBC TMS after the penultimate Test.
“There’s been a lot of chat about not bowling the overs. There are so many different ways of trying to find opportunities to get as much play in as possible. At every opportunity at every stage you should be looking to find ways to get the Test on. We batted in worse conditions at Edgbaston, but that is cricket. You just want consistency in those conditions,” he added.
Meanwhile, Australian legend Ricky Ponting has termed Root’s suggestions as "ridiculous" and not within the current laws of cricket.
“You can't just choose to change the laws of the game whenever you want to,” Ponting said on the latest episode of The ICC Review.
“I'm sure there have been times when England have wanted to not get back out there and play themselves. I mean, that's just a ridiculous thing to say."
Another English cricketer, Stuart Broad, wrote in his column for the Daily Mail that it would be “unjust if weather had a decisive say” ahead of the final day’s play at Old Trafford.
While Ponting acknowledged Broad’s frustration, he mentioned that this wasn’t the first time it happened.
“I can understand Stuart’s frustration. You know, they had dominated that game. They had to dominate that game, they had to win that game to get themselves back in the series. So they'd done everything that they possibly could, but unfortunately the weather came in," Ponting stated.
“So I can understand the frustration there, but it's not like it's the first time it's ever happened, especially in the UK and especially in Manchester. Looking at the numbers the other day, Manchester now I think is on an even keel with the Sydney Cricket Ground on the most full days of international cricket that have been washed out. So it's not the first time it's happened here, won't be the last time.”
Ponting further pointed out that fickle weather was something England were aware of ahead of the Manchester Test.
“There's absolutely nothing worse (as a captain). You've worked as hard as they have for three days, well three-and-a-half days really in that Test match and they were dominating the game," Ponting added.
“But by the same token, they knew at the start of the game that this was going to happen. You know, they did everything they could in their power to try and force a result. Unfortunately for them, they've waited until the fourth Test to actually play that way and get themselves in a situation like that in a game. And for them, it was too late."
(With ICC Inputs)
