Ashes 2023: Australia hope for rain as England deliver near-knockouts

For three scintillating Tests, England and Australia traded punch and counter punch, each match going to the wire, decided by the smallest twist of fate. For a while it seemed the fourth was going the same way, but now for the second day in succession, England have stunned Australia with a brutal all out assault – their opponents reeling.

Only the weather, it seems, can save them now. England’s blitz with the bat and the ball has apparently reduced the infamous Aussie grit to dust. Josh Hazlewood, astonishingly, admitting in his side’s post-match press conference that he’d “be very pleased” to see rain intervene, the sort of negativity that would seem unthinkable from Australian sides of old.

But when you have seen your side concede almost 600 runs in the field and then your top order blown open by the pace of Mark Wood, these things become a little more understandable.

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In truth, rain, expected for the majority of the remaining two days, is indeed really Australia’s only hope: England remain 162 runs ahead needing just six more wickets to wrap up an emphatic and dramatic series-levelling win.

The assault that has left Australia praying for rain came in two halves on Day 3, the first of which came from the bat of Jonny Bairstow – seemingly never more dangerous than when feeling written off.

If in the past, some of the slights might have been more imagined than real, this series the knives actually have been out for Bairstow in certain quarters, the spotlight of public opinion shining brightly on a collection of wicketkeeping errors and low scores with the bat.

England though have backed their man, and their choice at the start of the series to select him over Ben Foakes, and in a thrilling burst after lunch, they saw that faith wholeheartedly repaid.

Bairstow had 49 runs when James Anderson joined him for England’s last wicket partnership, by the time it ended, eight overs later, he had 99 – the hosts adding 66 soul-crushing, 10th-wicket runs to their already bloated total, all Australian hopes seeping away into the Mancunian air.

Of the 50 runs that Bairstow added alongside Anderson, incredibly only two came in singles, the other 48 were dispatched for boundaries (six fours and four sixes), Australia’s attack marmalised to all parts of the ground.

The second near knockout blow to Australia came once again via the arm of Mark Wood, his pace proving too much, for three of the Australian batters to fall – Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith and Travis Head’s innings all cut short by his pace.

Khawaja was the first to fail to deal with the extra pace and bounce of Wood, wafting his bat at one well outside his eyeline, powerless to resist the urge to follow it. Smith seemed caught in two minds trying to pull a short ball away, a thin glove through to Bairstow being England’s reward. Four overs before the close went Head, only able to flap and deflect a savage 91 mph bouncer, that reared into his body, to Ben Duckett at gully.

It left Australia 113/4 at the close, and by their own admission hoping for rain to get them out of this one.