After Ben Stokes' heroics in Leeds the Ashes is all square at 1-1 with two to play as England and Australia head to Old Trafford for the fourth test which gets underway on Wednesday.
We will probably have to wait a long time to see a better test match than what was on view in Leeds where England squared the series with a 1 wicket victory in the third test. England made 362 runs in the fourth innings to get home with Ben Stokes unbeaten on 135. Stokes and Leach, who survived 17 balls, had come together at 286/9 with Australia on the brink of a victory that would have seen them retain the Ashes.
England had been bowled out for just 67 in their first innings either side of Australia's totals of 179 and 246. Stokes was Man of the Match whilst other notable performances came from Archer who finished with 8 wickets including 6 in the first innings and Hazlewood who took a total of 9 wickets in the match.
Manchester is the next stop and James Anderson has been ruled out of the remainder of the series whilst Australia welcome back Steve Smith who missed the Leeds test due to concussion.
In the outright betting Australia are now trading at 22/10 (from 9/10) with WSB to win the series with the draw at 2/1 (from 33/10) and England are now favourites at 14/10 (from 5/2)
The favourite in the series correct score market with the same firm is a 2-2 draw at 22/10 whilst England to win 3-1 is 9/4 and Australia to win 3-1 is 7/2.
Earlier results:
1st Test Edgabaston
England 374 and 146
Australia 284 and 487/7 decleared
Australia won by 251 runs.
2nd Test Lords
England 258 and 258/5 declared
Australia 250 and 154/6
Drawn test
Series Top Run Scoers
Steve Smith 378 (3 innings)
Ben Stokes 327 (6 innings)
Rory Burns 242 (6 innings)
Marnus Labuschagne 213 (3 innings)
Joe Root 176 (6 innings)
Series Top Wicket Takers
Pat Cummins 17 (3 matches)
Nathan Lyon 14 (3 matches)
Stuart Broad 14 (3 matches)
Jofra Archer 13 (2 matches)
Josh Hazlewood 12 (2 matches)
The Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
England have won 4 and drawn 1 of the 5 test matches staged at this venue over the course of the last decade and that 1 draw came against Australia in the 2013 Ashes series. The most recent test match at Old Trafford saw England beat South Africa by 177 runs in August 2017 .
Betting To Win the 4th Test
England 15/10
Draw 27/10
Australia 17/10
Prices are an average of what was available at the time of publication but subject to change.
The Verdict:
I'm open minded about the result although England do have the momentum. Getting Steve Smith Smith out cheaply enough could be the key and England's best hope there is surely Jofra Archer who has made a real mark in his first two test matches. Archer is short enough to be top 1st innings bowler for the home side but he is hard to argue with.
Additional interest comes in the Man of the Match market and Archer also gets the vote here. Although we have seen some big individual totals bowlers have generally been on top in my view so I would rather take ball over bat in that regard.
Bets: Top England 1st Innings bowler Jofra Archer 5/2
Man of the Match, Jofra Archer at 17/2
Remember you can have your own say on all this week’s matches on our discussion forum
