By this point, though, McGrath and Alcott were working hard to get the paceman back to fitness. McGrath was even waking up through the night to have treatment.
In the run-up to the third Test at Old Trafford, the Australians visited Manchester United, which was when McGrath first started to jog (he also swapped shirts with Ryan Giggs). Seven days after stepping on the ball at Edgbaston, McGrath was back playing Test cricket.
“Cricket and bowling is all about straight lines. If I had to dodge and weave, I would have had no chance,” says McGrath. “I definitely wasn’t 100%, but I felt I was good enough.”
His 0-86 was the only time in 14 Tests in England that McGrath failed to take a wicket in the first innings. Though he picked up five in the second, he was aided by England’s push for quick runs. The 5.52 runs an over he conceded was the worst economy from a spell of more than seven overs in McGrath’s entire Test career.
“I thought I bowled OK, but compared to Lord’s, I was not quite the same bowler,” he says.
McGrath at least survived nine deliveries at number 11 as Australia clung to a draw on a fifth day when thousands of spectators were locked out of a bursting Old Trafford. He had played his part in keeping the series level, only for injury to strike again prior to the fourth Test at Trent Bridge.
“I physically couldn’t bowl because of the pain my elbow was in,” he says.
“It came from nowhere and I don’t know where it went to because a couple of days later I was fine. It was just that morning of the match, I could not bowl.”
Whether or not the elbow problem was a result of over-compensating for the injured ankle, McGrath’s absence was again critical for the Australians, who had also been forced to drop his out-of-form new-ball partner Jason Gillespie.
As England nervously chased 129 to win in Nottingham, Kasprowicz and debutant Shaun Tait were targeted for a combined 43 runs from their six overs. Lee and Shane Warne were left to shoulder the attack and shared seven wickets to almost bowl Australia to an Ashes-saving victory.
“Straight after the Test and in the years that followed, Warney always said if we had 20 more runs we would have won,” says McGrath.
McGrath returned for the fifth and final Test at The Oval. As Australia pushed for the win that would have denied England the urn, he removed Vaughan and Ian Bell with successive deliveries on the final day, only for an inspired Kevin Pietersen to make a maiden Test century that sealed the Ashes.
McGrath had tasted defeat in an Ashes series for the first and only time, leaving The Oval outfield arm-in-arm with Warne in what would be their final Test in England.
“It was a bittersweet moment,” he says. “It was tough sitting watching those Tests and not playing, but the impact that series had on the game itself was brilliant.”
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