England will take on Australia in the fourth Test of the ongoing Ashes series at Old Trafford in Manchester starting Wednesday, July 19 with the scoreline at 2-1 in the visitors' favour. While Australia are ahead, things have started to look good for England but the hosts need to win both the remaining games and with the match set to be shortened due to rain, it is going to favour Ben Stokes' men even more.
The introduction of Mark Wood and Chris Woakes has worked wonders for England and with James Anderson coming back, the home side will look to get the best out of the overcast conditions likely to stay throughout the match. Even though Mitchell Marsh hit a century in the last game, the form of David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne is a concern for Australia and if either of them finds form, it will be great for the visitors.
With the series tantalisingly poised, here's a look at playing conditions for the Manchester Test:
Pitch report
The pitch at Manchester has been helpful to the batters in the past and it will be the case this time as well. As usual with the traditional English venues, the batters will have to be careful as the pitch will help the pace bowlers in the first two days before gets drier on the remaining days. The spinners will come into play at Old Trafford and Australia have surprisingly left out their lone frontline spinner Todd Murphy. Run-scoring will get easier and England will hope that they can cash in on the opportunity having not won an Ashes Test at the venue for 42 years.
Weather Forecast
The weather will be good for the first couple of days before the clouds take over from the third day onwards. The rain is predicted at 40 percent for the third day and 100 and 90 percent for the fourth and fifth days of the Test match. It is likely that the weather might affect the conditions and the batters could have the worst of them on all five days. It is imperative that the better bowling side is likely to win the game again.
Playing XIs
England: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Stuart Broad, James Anderson
Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Josh Hazlewood
