Bad light and rain stopped play on the fourth day of the Ashes third Test between England and Australia at Old Trafford and those are the two factors which can spoil a potentially exciting day’s cricket on the final day. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 8.00pm AEST.
The forecast for the final day isn’t great and although there have been other weather predictions that haven’t come right, there will be a few prayers going around in the Australian dressing room.
Down 2-0, this game presented a great opportunity to Michael Clarke and his men to pull one back but only five English wickets on the third day and weather issues on the fourth seems to have put the spanner.
Still, Clarke has a lead of 331 and now it almost seems certain they will declare their innings closed overnight to give themselves as many overs as they possibly can to bowl England out.
If by some miracle the weather remains good, a total of 98 overs can be compressed on the fifth day’s play and the battle between the Australian bowlers and the English batsmen will be an interesting one.
Three players from the English top-order have got themselves a century with Alastair Cook, Jonathon Trott and Jonny Bairstow still to register one. It will be a good day Monday, to register one.
More importantly, it will be imperative for one of the top six to bat through the day, much like what Ricky Ponting had done on the same ground in 2005.
The pitch, as is on display throughout the Test match, has taken turn and Nathan Lyon will need to be a vital cog in the Australian bowling wheels.
While it looks likely that England will play to save the game, there might be that temptation to try and take the game into the third session without losing too many and then reassess.
Three wickets down and something in the region of 130 to get for England in the final third of play could just be an ideal situation for the hosts to get into and they can then press for a win as well.
However, knowing that a draw will be enough for them to retain the Ashes and as was on display in the first four days of the Test, safety-first tactics will be Cook’s first route.
All of that will obviously depend on the sun coming out in full earnest and the rains keeping away.
Follow the live score and blog of the fifth day’s play of the third Test from 8.00pm AEST. You can join me for this live blog and post your comments below.
JGK
Roar Guru
For the record, the weather here at Old Trafford is now perfect for cricket and has been for an hour and a half.
Silver_Sovereign
Guest
the normans didn't have a problem invading
Chris
Guest
Concur redsback...
Chris
Guest
Cheers Suneer. Good work, and good summary.
Chris
Guest
They'd decided because England are 2-0 up, not because of here. But yes, play would have been better. It's a fair question, England aren't actually playing that well, but God knows which Australia will turn up next time. You've still only had 1 century this series, it can't be all on Clarke.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
The scoreline still remains 2-0 after three Tests. Despite having gone into the Test match with talks of a 5-0 defeat getting louder, Australia did well to fight in this game. The batting in the first innings for one, was a huge improvement and it's no coincidence Michael Clarke had a role to play in that. Credit to the way Chris Rogers came out firing and then to the likes of Steven Smith and the lower-order - that has almost invariably fired each time. While they bowled well too, Australia will be unhappy with the third day's show - only five wickets fell and Kevin Pietersen got to a 100. Not that it would have changed the result around given that a whole day has been lost to rain, but Australia would have loved to bowl England out that day. I won't get started on DRS because that would probably run into reams - or its online equivalent - but suffice to say that the current usage of DRS continues to raise questions. It may be a good time for the ICC to reconsider the manner in which it's got to be used and yes, I believe that technology, when used properly, is good for the sport, any sport, in this day and age. There, I said I won't speak too much and I still did. The fourth Test begins in a few days and Australia will go into the game with a lot more confidence. England, mind you, will still come out firing, attempting a 4-0 and because the series is still on line. That apart, they will have a few improvement areas of their own - like their top-order and the bowling of Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan. Well then, that's it from me, it's been a lot of fun bringing you this game. I will be back with the fourth Test, till then, have a good time! Ciao!
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Very hollow way for the Ashes to be decided. Regardless of that Australia will take far more out of this match than England. The question is can they back it up at Chester-Le-Street or will they fall in a heap like they did after their fighting effort at Trent Bridge?
Chris
Guest
Yay! Not the ideal way to do it, but 3 Tests into the series and the first job done.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Play has been called off. Match ends in a draw. England retain the Ashes. 20.3 overs possible on the last day, which means this has been essentially a four-day Test match after the loss of all those overs yesterday. Australia played better than England, unfortunately, it wasn't enough. The English side came out on the balcony to wave out to the crowd.
Chris
Guest
Australia have retained the Ashes with a draw at Old Trafford four times...
Chris
Guest
OK, if you're happy, that's fine. Pretty defeatist, but your call.
Chris
Guest
If you're reduced to moaning about Botham's pastiche of Glenn McGrath, who did this routinely, including the last series in which you had three innings defeats, that's your call.
Hookin' YT
Guest
A couple of hours to go. Its over... http://www.accuweather.com/en/gb/manchester/m1-2/weather-radar/329260
Jules
Roar Rookie
As a slogan it will at least last longer than Botham's 10-0 that very nearly didn't even make it past the first test and is now literally dead in the water.
Jules
Roar Rookie
The series is still not lost, Chris and 2-all away would be a fantastic result for us. Worrying about the urn is symbolic and good for marketers, but not what the real Aussie cricket fan cares about in this rebuilding phase. In any case, we've got as much chance of actually getting the real thing back as the Greeks have of getting their hands on the Elgin marbles! I'm already stoked to have dominated one game and lost another by only 15 runs. 99% of informed Aussie fans would have happily taken that before the series started.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Still raining at Old Trafford but there's about an hour to go before the game gets called off. Waiting for the inevitable now.
James
Guest
im sorry are you saying that the english take themselves too seriously? the rest is bollocks or the same as everyone else anyways but i have to very strongly disagree that the english take themselves too seriously or even seriously most of the time. the greatest comedy shows ever are almost all english and all completely ridiculous. monty python, blackadder, fawlty towers etc are the opposite of serious. this also allows me to draw your attention to this which i love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkxCHybM6Ek
James
Guest
yeah im not ready to read too much into this just as i wasnt reading too much into the 2nd test either. i cant until cook and trott and to a lesser degree prior actually score runs. the same with clarke though he did show great game in this test. australian bowlers have bowled very well but cook and trott are better, they just arnt playing well enough for me to read too much into the game. hopefully the next test everyone shines.
Chris
Guest
Yes, that's the risk. Do you need a reminder of the series score and that you needed to win?
Jules
Roar Rookie
Yes, and then if the rain had stayed away, England could have cruised to victory and regained all the momentum for the 10-test tussle. The British press would have started talking about the whitewash they have now conveniently forgotten they were ever talking about and the Clarke-haters would have rounded on him to such an extent that Australia could have lost its best batsmen by a street and been plunged into even greater turmoil. I'll take this result compared to even a 10% risk of that one, thank you very much. There are still seven tests to play and a lot to gain from a performance like this for our young team in the long-term.