Rain clears to give England a chance at Old Trafford

Scott Bailey | July 23, 2023

England have a chance to try to level the Ashes series at Old Trafford after rain finally blew away in Manchester.

With the first session of day four entirely washed out, the game was able to resume at 2:45pm with up to 59 overs available to be bowled on Saturday.

That is, however, unlikely given more wet weather is forecast for later on Saturday afternoon. 

The national weather service has also issued a warning for heavy downpours on day five.

But England are now at least poised to have some time to run through Australia, who resume on 4-113, still needing 162 more runs to make the hosts bat again.

Australia need to draw the match to ensure they retain the Ashes as current holders – they hold a 2-1 lead in the series with one more Test to play.

However, a win for England would set up the first true decider to an Ashes series in 14 years, when the fifth Test starts at The Oval on Thursday.

If the rain does return, England may live to regret batting so long on day three after beginning the morning with a lead of 67.

Buoyed by Jonny Bairstow’s big hitting with an unbeaten 81-ball 99, England opted to bat out their innings and extend their lead to 275.

It limited the hosts to 41 overs of bowling at Australia on Friday afternoon, with slow over rates throughout the match again not helping their cause.

England will believe they may need as little as one session to bowl Australia out and win the match, but the big question will be whether the Manchester weather allows that.