Australia seek glory; England parity

With the Ashes on the line, Australia have recalled Josh Hazlewood and Cameron Green for the fourth Test starting in Manchester on Wednesday. The inclusion of Green—which strengthens their batting all the way up till No 10—means Australia will take the field without a spinner in over a decade as they eye their first series win in England since 2001.
After a 10-day break, the Ashes head to Old Trafford with the series interestingly poised 2-1 in favour of Australia. On the eve of the game, Australia captain Pat Cummins revealed that Hazlewood would come in place of Scott Boland and kept the door open for one more change. Later in the evening, Australia, who hold the Ashes, confirmed that Green – who missed the previous Test at Headingley with a hamstring injury – would replace off-spinner Todd Murphy. With Alex Carey set to bat at No 8, Australia’s batting extends to No 10, where Cummins is slotted.
Top-five unchanged
Ever since it became clear that Green is fit and available for selection, Australia have been facing selection headaches. Although opener David Warner has been struggling on the tour, Cummins had asserted that the top-five from the Leeds Test would stay unchanged. “(Warner) has been going really well,” Cummins said. “I thought at Lord’s, he was really impressive. Last week, like many of us, he probably didn’t contribute as much as he would have liked with the bat.
“He’s been out there over the last couple of days putting in a lot of work, but I think this tour he has shown a lot of good signs and hasn’t quite kicked on to make that big score. Some of those innings he’s played under really tough circumstances has made it easy for (Steve) Smith to come in and score runs, or the like,” Cummins said.

With Murphy dropped, Australia will take the field without a spinner for the first time since they faced India at Perth during the 2011/12 season. Coming in place of Nathan Lyon, Murphy bowled only 9.3 overs for one wicket in Headingley. Although Australia still have five bowling options, at some point they may need Travis Head or Marnus Labuschagne to bowl a few overs of spin to break the monotony.
“It’s all really conditions based,” Cummins said. “I would have loved to bowl him a bit more but there wasn’t a heap of overs in the game, the ball seemed to swing and seam a little bit, so that’s certainly something to weigh up this week.”
Soggy weather expected
It rained in Manchester most of Tuesday and was to clear early Wednesday. But rain was forecast to return on Saturday. Speaking on the eve of the match, England captain Ben Stokes said if the forecast remained as predicted, it could work to their advantage. “With the weather that’s predicted, it might bring more out of us again knowing that we might have to push the game on even more than we normally do,” Stokes said.
England had named its side on Monday with James Anderson coming in place of Ollie Robinson being the lone change. Going back to Anderson at his home ground – where one of the ends is named after him – is a bit of a bold move from England as the seamer with 688 Test wickets has struggled in the series, picking up just three wickets in the first two matches he played. With the condition being on the flatter side to suit England’s Bazball tactics, Anderson hasn’t been able to create the sort of impact he had delivered in the past editions Ashes at home.
However, in overcast conditions Stokes reckoned Anderson would be needed at Manchester. “I’ve got no doubt that at some point this week Jimmy Anderson will be very crucial for us,” Stokes said.

“When you’re a world-class performer for such a long period, you can understand the frustration for him that he has not felt like he has contributed. He’s not taken nearly 700 wickets without going through two games of not feeling at his best. World-class performers bounce back and deliver.”
Stokes said if they win and the series goes down to the wire, it has got the potential to be one of the best Ashes in a long time.