England’s Ashes ambitions are dash by rain in a devastating anti-climax. Ten years ago, in the summer of 2013, the fifth day of an Ashes Test at Old Trafford was completely wash out, resulting in a tie. England, who were 2-0 up before the game, were reeling at 37/3 chasing a goal of 332 when rain intervened. It meant that England had kept the urn despite the best of conditions. In 2023, they found themselves on the opposite extreme of the spectrum at the same location.
The final day at Old Trafford was always suppose to be cloudy, and that’s exactly what happen. Rain refuse to back down from the start, and the outcome was obvious long before it was formally reveal. Its nonetheless a memorable Test match for England. Who put on a daring effort to keep their Ashes hopes alive, only to be thwart at the finish line by the rain.
Ben Stokes stunned everyone by choosing to bowl on a strong batting surface, but his bowlers backed him up by limiting Australia to a below-par score of 317. The pitch at Old Trafford was good for batting, with strong pace and carry, but not a lot of movement. Many Australian batsmen had starts but failed to finish, owing to some sloppy shot selection as well as England’s disciplined bowling assault. Chris Woakes stood out with his first Ashes fifer, while Mark Wood made his presence felt with major breakthroughs.
With the forecast for days four and five being ominously bad. England had a race to run against the weather and they used their Bazball template perfectly to set things up. Over the course of their innings, it became apparent why Stokes wanted to bowl at the toss instead of the common notion that batting first was the better idea. England smashed their way to 592 at almost run-a-ball with Zak Crawley leading the charge. He particularly ruthless in the post-lunch session on day two when Australia’s bowlers were left clueless.
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Crawley’s attack laid the groundwork for England
Apart from the opener’s heroics, Joe Root’s class and Jonny Bairstow’s blitzkrieg stood out as Australia’s bowlers were put to the test. Josh Hazlewood did finish with a five-wicket haul, but it was a hard one. The Aussies perhaps lacked a specialist spinner on a dry track with a hint of spin. In the early innings, their attempt to stretch the batting order also failed.
With a 275-run lead, it was up to England’s bowlers to do the rest, and to be fair, they were superb on the third day’s voyage to Stumps, picking up four wickets, including the huge scalps of David Warner and Steve Smith. Wood’s blazing spells were too much to bear. Australia push to the verge before rain intervened. Marnus Labuschagne and Mitchell Marsh deserve credit for their combination on the fourth day, when Australia lost just one wicket in 30 overs bowled.
Unfortunately for England, those 30 overs were their only ones in the previous two days. Despite the bleak outlook, they’d hoped for at least another 30 overs. Australia looked solid on the fourth day, but the pressure of preserving the urn and batting on the final day can cause teams to do strange things. It never made it because Manchester’s weather had the final word. The series is still up for grabs as Australia attempts to win its first series in England since 2001.
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