It's an interesting hypothetical to raise. 
The declaration was quite clearly delayed to give Ballance an opportunity to score a century. 
And England ended up drawing the match due to a lack of time with only one last wicket to take. 

I can recall in the last Ashes series, Clarke declaring overnight on Warner and telling Cook only 15 minutes before the start of play which disrupted the English preparation and Cook was out very quickly. 

On the other hand Atherton once declared on Hick when Hick was 98* or 99* in an Ashes test. 

Ballance of course is playing his second test and had never scored a test century and was not secure in the team whilst Warner has scored test centuries and indeed had already scored a century in the previous test. 

It's a very difficult ballance between the team need and player management. Declaring on Ballance could have destroyed not only Ballance's confidence but team moral

so what are your thoughts on the matter?

Discuss