Wood's fearsome spell rams home England advantage

A decisive triple-strike by England's potent bowling weapon Mark Wood has all-but ensured the rain forecast for Old Trafford over the coming weekend is Australia's sole hope of saving the fourth Test and thereby retaining the Ashes.

After England's merciless mauling of their bowlers ended on 592 with Jonny Bairstow denied a record-setting century and the lead a yawning 275, Australia's top-order again misfired in the face of Wood's sheer speed and Chris Woakes's canny swing.

In the space of 19 deliveries from the end named in honour of England's most prolific Test wicket-taker, Wood removed Usman Khawaja (18), Steve Smith (17) and Travis Head (1) to leave Australia's second innings in tatters and their Ashes defence in the balance.

If weather allows, Australia resume tomorrow at 4-113, still a distant 162 from making England bat again and rain the only real prospect of preventing another win for the rampant home team and a showdown at The Oval next week where the series will be decided if England draw level at 2-2 here.

A huge responsibility rests with No.3 batter Marnus Labuschagne who ended day three unbeaten on 44, and third-Test century-maker Mitchell Marsh (1no).

While persistent rain is expected throughout Saturday and further showers tipped for Sunday, the unreliability of British forecasting was seen in Manchester today where interruptions were expected but only 13 minutes of play lost immediately after lunch.

But given the dominance England have exerted throughout this match, after Wood's inclusion proved the difference in the third Test at Headingley, it would seem a travesty of justice and a disservice to the series if Australia escape with a draw that decides the urn's custody.

Regardless of the outcome of this match, Australia face some searching questions ahead of the final Test with their top-order unsettled by Wood's pace and often unable to handle it.

Wood bowled just one over from Old Trafford's James Anderson End with the brisk nor'westerly ripping over his left shoulder but, having made his team's crucial first incision with his second delivery, did not re-appear after the tea break.

It was almost an hour before he re-entered the attack, albeit from the opposite end where his two overs went unrewarded, but when swung back to relieve Anderson at his eponymous end it took just three more balls to land a knockout blow.

With the crowd roaring, Wood let loose a bouncer that might have leaped from the pitch slightly slower than the Australia batter expected and he was through his hook shot too quickly, with the ball grazing high on his bat.

Smith immediately walked, and with him seemingly went Australia's best hope of holding out for a draw if Manchester's miserable weather doesn't achieve that outcome for them.

That distant dream dimmed further when Wood, who had initially delivered a series of bouncers at Head, switched his attack to around the wicket and immediately had the left-hander fending a short-ball awkwardly to backward point.

At that stage, Australia's only chance of avoiding a hefty defeat lay in the hands of higher authorities or an even less likely intervention of Bairstow-esque proportions from their unbeaten pair or someone in the bottom five.

After England opener Zak Crawley threatened Ian Botham's 86-ball record for the fastest Test century at Old Trafford yesterday, Bairstow would have claimed the benchmark for himself if not left stranded on 99 from just 81 balls faced after a knock of barely controlled belligerence.

It came as the final indignity for Australia's bowlers who copped unrelenting punishment for all but brief phases of England's 'Bazball' master class.

The eventual 592 was their first score of 500-plus in an Ashes Test since they plundered 644 in the final outing of their triumphant 2010-11 tour to Australia, and their biggest against their historic rival on home turf since accumulating 5(dec)-595 at Edgbaston 38 years ago.

But far more remarkable was the speed at which those runs came.

Only once in the 146-year history of Test cricket has a team scored 500 or more at a more rapid, sustained rate than the 5.49 per over England rattled along at in this match, and that was the extraordinary 657 the same outfit took from 101 overs (at 6.5) against Pakistan at Rawalpindi last year.

Notwithstanding the prospect of precipitation, Australia's openers went to the wicket with their team knowing they needed to bat for basically a couple of days if the Ashes are to remain in their keeping.

But the innings was just 45 minutes old when Wood was unleashed for the first time, and within two deliveries had clocked 144kph and claimed the scalp of Khawaja.

The point of difference provided by raw pace was evident when Khawaja instinctively sparred at a ball pitched back of a length from around the wicket, and appeared genuinely shocked when umpire Joel Wilson upheld England's appeal for a catch behind.

Image Id: CBB5480C24BB459FAB0A9F4D4FEF6239 Image Caption: The DRS didn't save Khawaja // Channel Nine

Given the din that accompanied Wood's introduction from Old Trafford's imposing temporary grandstand that seats 8500 in unvarying degrees of discomfort, it was not surprising Khawaja hadn't heard the faint tickle revealed by television's 'snicko' technology.

However, Wood was in no doubt as to the outcome and Australia lost not only their first opener but one of their three umpire reviews with just 10 overs bowled.

The other departed in the half hour after tea, with David Warner's tour of frustration laid bare by the indecision that ended his innings having batted for almost 80 minutes to score 28.

Having worked diligently off the field to address his fallibility against Stuart Broad targeting him from around the wicket, the left-hander has found himself tormented by Chris Woakes operating over the wicket and sliding the ball across him rather than darting into his front pad.

In the first innings, Warner nicked off driving at a full ball from Woakes and was undone in the second by a fateful change of mind when he initially moved to play a similar length delivery only to withdraw the bat and then make a last-second prod that took the inside edge and tilted back middle stump.

Warner's woes against the new ball four years ago have been well documented after he managed just 95 runs across 10 innings, but this campaign has been perhaps more disappointing for him with five scores of 25 or more from eight starts but only a solitary half-century (at Lord's).

For much of today's first session, Australia's bitter memories of the previous afternoon remained just that as better bowling plans and a more temperate approach from England's middle-order restored an air of once-recognisable Test cricket.

But that was blown away by Bairstow's brutal onslaught after lunch, when many expected Stokes to declare with a lead that had reached 189 by the break.

Hazlewood's removal of Chris Woakes (for England's first duck of the series) then Mark Wood in consecutive overs meant only tailenders remained to partner Bairstow through the final phase of their innings.

The England keeper was 41 at lunch, which was immediately followed by a 13-minute rain delay and the first sign of the pyrotechnics to follow came when he shovelled Mitchell Starc over the backward square leg boundary to reach 50 at a run a ball.

Having endured weeks of scrutiny over the standard of his glovework, and a similar level of inquiry regarding his place in the team given his diminishing returns with the bat, he signalled his delight by pumping his fists and waving his bat defiantly at the England rooms.

He also launched into white-ball mode as Australia's fielders retreated en masse to the far-flung boundaries, which only encouraged Bairstow to pummel the ball into gaps with timing reminiscent of his golden 2022 northern summer.

When Stuart Broad decided the best support he could provide England's last recognised batter was to try and belt every delivery out of the park, Australia's frustration grew as a miscued drive landed safely between fielders and the margin stretched beyond 200.

Broad eventually hit one to a catcher and completed Hazlewood's five-for in the process, and it seemed likely Stokes would send out Anderson for as long as it took Bairstow – then on 49 – to reach a deserved half-century.

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However, over the ensuing 40 minutes and to a crescendo of delirious cheers from his home-town fans, Anderson became a central character in theatre worthy of the recently concluded Manchester International Festival as Bairstow charged towards a seemingly pre-destined century.

When Australia's bowlers opted to attack Bairstow with bouncers in the hope he might mishit a pull shot, he responded by launching them beyond the boundary on the leg side.

When they targeted his stump, he did the same including one monstrous blow over mid-wicket off Pat Cummins that resembled the swing – and even the physique - of a woodcutter.

In between those acts of belligerence that had the full house at Old Trafford rocking, Bairstow expertly farmed the strike by running a series of byes, taking off from the non-striker's end the moment the ball was released and (for a change) beating Alex Carey's despairing throws at the stumps.

With each single, and with every boundary the Lancashire stadium rose as England's lead grew from formidable to impregnable and Thursday afternoon's sense that Australia was bereft of ideas unmistakably returned.

In truth, England's lead had already become so vast more runs here and there were comparatively less important than the time that was ticking by given the grim forecast for the weekend.

But by the same token, the groundswell that continued to build as Bairstow reached 90 by punching Cameron Green behind point for four, then to the cusp of 100 with an inside edge past his stumps then a thunderous cover drive that raced to the rope.

When he punched Green to long-off and immediately hared down the pitch the two he needed to complete a stunning century appeared there for the taking until Cummins scurried in and – despite throwing to the wrong end with Anderson already committed to a second – hastened the end.

Next ball, with Bairstow marooned at the bowler's end on 99, Anderson walked across his stumps in an ambitious bid to glance a single and was pinned plumb lbw.

Anderson's disappointment at letting down his mate was palpable but, in becoming just the third batter after Steve Waugh and Geoff Boycott to be left undefeated one short of a ton in Tests between Australia and England, Bairstow ensured himself a place in Ashes folklore.

The 66 runs England's last pair put on – of which Anderson contributed five – carried England's dominance to 275, with no team in an Ashes contest having banked a first innings lead of that or more and only walked away with a draw since the series opener at Edgbaston in 1961.

From the moment day three resumed, with England already 67 in ascendancy after a murderous 72 overs the day prior, the point of discussion was not how Stokes's men would approach their task but at what stage they would foreclose it.

The captain gave a clear indication when he resolutely defended the morning's first ball from Hazlewood then launched himself at the second with a wild air-swing followed by a steely glare at his rival.

However, the scoring fluency England had enjoyed throughout most of yesterday eluded them for much of the first two hours today when a combination of more disciplined bowling and conventional field placings kept the run rate to a 'mere' 5.08 per over.

It had breached seven an over at the height of Thursday's carnage.

Further aiding Australia's cause was the collection of regular wickets as Stokes inside-edged on to his stumps shortly after reaching 50, and Harry Brook fell to a neatly judged catch on the fine leg boundary rope by Starc soon after posting a similar milestone.

However, both batters might have been run out inside the day's first hour when on 32 and 19 respectively.

Stokes survived a scramble for a second when Alex Carey was unable to glove substitute fielder Michael Neser's rocket return from the boundary and instead dislodged the bails with his hand with the England skipper short of the line.

Two over later, Brook had given up on making his ground after backing up too far when Stokes belted the ball to Cummins at mid-off but – as was the case the previous evening when Stokes was on seven – the Australia captain's throw missed the stumps and a wicket went begging.

Perhaps the keenest insight into Australia's mindset in the midst of another humbling session came when Hazlewood removed Brook and Woakes in consecutive deliveries, with the wicket that took him to the cusp of a first (and ultimately unrealised) Test hat-trick yielding barely a yelp in celebration.

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 43 runs

Third Test: England won by three wickets

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood