Pitch and weather: Blame the jet stream for this one, apparently. While continental Europe swelters in temperatures pushing 40 degrees Celsius, the UK has reverted to be a damp rock in the North Atlantic, with grey skies, drizzle and general dankness anticipated for the entire Test-match week. Stereotypical Manchester weather. In other words, which might have the knock-on effect of keeping the pitch fresh for the seamers, in between several inevitable stoppages for rain.
Twenty-four hours out, the surface itself looks hard and brown, with no discernible live grass on show. It looks like a bat-first deck, but the overheads may beg to differ. Reverse-swing has been a key weapon at Old Trafford in previous Ashes contests, but Stokes acknowledged that the lush outfield would likely negate that prospect.
England vs Australia 4th Test Highlights 2023. Wednesday 19-7, The Ashes 2023 4th Test Highlights, From Old Trafford, Manchester.
Toss: England chose to field.
England team: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jonny Bairstow †, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.
Australia team: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Cameron Green, Alex Carey †, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Josh Hazlewood.
Head to Head In test’s: 359
England Won: 111
Australia Won: 152
England test Rankings: 3rd
Australia test Rankings: 2nd
Form guide
(Last five matches, most recent first)
England WLLWL
Australia LWWWD
Match Timings: 10:00 AM GMT | 11:00 AM Local
Umpires – Joel Wilson, Nitin Menon
TV Umpire – Kumar Dharmasena
Match Referee – Ranjan Madugalle
Reserve Umpire – Martin Saggers
Match number – Test no. 2512
