Australia fast bowler Glenn McGrath proved his worth with the bat at Old Trafford where his match-saving effort in the third Ashes Test made him the greatest No 11 in history. McGrath, once regarded as a hopeless, 'bunny' batsman, broke former West Indies paceman Courtney Walsh's record of 553 Test runs scored at no.11, his resilient five not out in the down-to-the-wire draw against England taking him to 555 runs in the position.
"I think I've been pushing my whole career to get out of the No 11 spot and to finally have the most runs at 11 in the history of the game, I guess it's good in one respect and bad that it probably still batting at No 11," McGrath told reporters after Monday's thrilling finish.
The 35-year-old joined Brett Lee with four overs remaining in the match and England needing a single wicket for a victory that would have put them 2-1 up with two to play.
But McGrath was defiant in his nine-ball, 15-minute stay against the might of fast bowlers Stephen Harmison and Andrew Flintoff.
He faced the first three balls from Harmison in the final over, after Lee's shot off the last ball of the penultimate over went for four.
However, McGrath's response caused frantic worry amongst his team-mates who feared they might lose the game to a run-out.
"The first ball was down the leg side. I think Geraint Jones (the England wicket-keeper) backhanded it at the stumps and I scrambled back in," McGrath said. "Next ball, so I'm told, it sort of got to the keeper and he threw it to Matthew Hoggard, who was in the vicinity of the stumps while I was just about taking leg again, about two metres out of my crease. "And he just passed it on to Harmison. The boys reckon it would have been run out if he took the bails off, but I just think it was a dead ball."
Cricket's Law 23, 'Dead Ball' states that the ball can become dead when "it is finally settled in the hands of the wicket-keeper or the bowler".
REUTERS ADDS: "The ball shall be considered to be dead when it is clear to the umpire at the bowler's end that the fielding side and both batsmen at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play."
Either way, it would certainly have been an interesting decision.
Meanwhile McGrath insisted that while Australia - winners of the last eight Ashes series - had not won in the current campaign since the first Test at Lord's, it was England who had most reason to be concerned about the outcome this season.
For his part Lee, having been at the other end of the pitch when Australia lost Michael Kasprowicz and the game at Edgbaston by two runs eight days earlier, said he could not stand another tense climax come the fourth Test at Trent Bridge starting on August 25.
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