Old Trafford, Manchester is the venue for the fourth Ashes test match between England and Australia, the game gets under way on Wednesday and the Aussies now lead the series 2-1 with two matches to play.
England went into the third test at Headingley 2-0 down but they kept their hopes of regaining the Ashes alive with a 3 wicket victory in another thrilling test match.
England won the toss and opted to bowl first at Leeds and in the 61st over Australia were all out for 263. Mitch Marsh, playing his first match of the series was the stand out batsman with 118 and the express pace of Mark Wood, also playing his first test of the series claimed 5 wickets. England replied with 237 with Ben Stokes top scoring with 80 and Pat Cummins took 6 wickets.
Australia made 224 in their second knock (Head 77) with Broad and Woakes both taking 3 wickets and Wood another 2. At 171/6 in the chase the match was in the balance but Harry Brook's 75 kept England on course and despite 5 wickets for Starc it was ChrisWoakes (32) and Wood (16) who saw England home. Wood was named Man of the Match.
Earlier in the series Australia won the first test at Edgbaston by 2 wickets and then made it 2-0 with a 43 run win in the second test which was staged at Lords.
This was how the teams lined up in the third test.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes (c), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad
Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland
Leading Series Run Scorers
Usman Khawaja 6 innings 356 runs
Ben Stokes 6 innings 309 runs
Travis Head 6 innings 266 runs
Ben Duckett 6 innings 237 runs
Joe Root 6 innings 232 runs
Leading Series Wicket Takers
Stuart Broad 3 matches 16 wickets
Pat Cummins 3 matches 15 wickets
Mitchell Starc 2 matches 13 wickets
Ollie Robinson 3 matches 10 wickets
Nathan Lyon 2 matches 9 wickets (Out of the remainder of the series through injury)
Recent Ashes Series
In Australia in 2021/22 England lost 4-0 (1 draw)
In England in 2019 a 5 match series was drawn 2-2 and Australia retained the urn.
In Australia in 2017/18 England lost 4-0 (1 draw)
The Venue, Old Trafford, Manchester
Over the course of the last decade England have won 7, drawn 1 and lost 1 of 9 test matches at Old Trafford.
Two of those matches were Ashes tests, a draw back in 2013 and a 185 run victory for Australia in 2019 where Steve Smith scored a double hundred in the first innings.
The most recent test match at this venue came against South Africa 12 months ago and England (415/9 declared) beat the Proteas (151 and 179) by by an innings and 85 runs
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Series Betting - Get a 100% Match Bonus +20 Free Spins on Deposit
England are now 7/2 (from 7/1) to win the series
A 3-2 series win for Australia is priced at 2/1 and a 3-1 Aussie victory can be backed at around 9/2
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
4th Test Betting
England are 5/4 to win the fourth test with a draw at 33/10 and Australia are 14/10
Root is 11/4 to top score for England in the first innings and Steve Smith is 5/2 to do likewise for Australia.
The Verdict
Mark Wood made a huge difference to the England attack in the third test and there were notable performances from Cummins and Starc with the ball for Australia
and for me the match result looks like another tough call.
Looking at the prices for the 1st innings top wicket taker market preference is for Starc to fair best for Australia. Harry Brook's confidence should be back on a high after his knock in the second innings at Leeds and he gets the vote to top score for England in the first innings. I will also include Travis to make a first innings half century for Australia.
Bets: Top Australian Wicket Taker (1st Innings) Mitchell Starc at 11/4 with Sportingbet
Top England Run Scorer (1st Innings) Harry Brook at 5/1 with Sportingbet
Play To Score 50 (1st Innings) Travis Head at 2/1 with Sportingbet
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Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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