The Pat Cummins-led Australian side breathed a sigh of relief as the weather gods bailed them out of a precarious situation in the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford in Manchester. As the rain kept pelting down at Old Trafford on Day 5 of the Manchester Test, England players and their fans waited with bated breath for play to resume but it wasn't meant to be.
Australia were five down for 214 in their second innings and had their hopes pinned on the batting pair of Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green. The unbeaten duo looked good during the concluding moments of play on Day 4 but since the inclement weather conditions didn't let the players break a sweat, Australia walked away with their pride intact and retained the historic urn.
Cummins who was suddenly announced as captain of the Test team during the last Ashes series played down under after Tim Paine had to step down, played an instrumental role in helping his side demolish the Three Lions 4-0. He faced a stern challenge in the form of a resurgent Ben Stokes-led England this time around away from home but has managed to battle past all the odds and the retention of the little urn is a testimony to the same.
In an evenly contested series thus far, the Kangaroos took an early lead after edging past the hosts in the opening Test at Edgbaston and backed it up with yet another praiseworthy effort in the second Test of the series at Lord's. However, the tables turned soon and a noteworthy effort from the hosts saw them claim the third fixture at Headingley and the fourth game of the series presented England with a wonderful opportunity to land an equalizer.
With all eyes glued on the outcome of the Manchester Test, it was the home side that displayed exuberance and dominated the majority of the proceedings in the encounter however, with persistent drizzle putting the mockers on the hosts, Australia made a lucky escape and retained the Ashes despite being behind in the contest.
Reflecting on how things transpired at Old Trafford, Cummins acknowledged that the retention of the urn in itself showcases how hard the unit has worked towards the same and also made it clear that they aren't content with retention alone and are eyeing an Ashes series victory in England that has been eluding them since 2001.
"I don't think there will be huge celebrations," Cummins told reporters on Sunday (July 23). "Maybe a bit of a pat on the back for retaining the (Ashes). There's been a lot of work gone into putting us into a position where a draw does make us retain the Ashes. But there's a Test match starting in three days so that's going to be our full focus," Cummins told reporters.
It was the combination of opener Zak Crawley and wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow on Day 2 at Old Trafford that took the attack to the Aussies and had their bowling attack ducking for cover. The Aussie skipper tried a lot of things to restrain the two English batters but none of their efforts really yielded fruitful results.
"That two-hour block in the middle session wasn't our best," said Cummins. "We tried to throw a few different plans at them and maybe on another day they work; a couple of the edges carry through or some of the catches go to hand, but I thought they batted well."
The 30-year-old Aussie skipper has hinted that they might tinker with their strategy leading into the fifth and final Test of the series and that may revolve around their bowling in particular to claim an elusive series win after 22 years.
"You definitely look at what you can try and do differently next time. That will be part of this week for sure," he said. "I think there are some obvious things we could do a little bit differently. Maybe some plans, the way we executed our bowling. As a group, proud that we've retained the Ashes but it's off the back of not our greatest week. We know we've got a fair bit of work to do for next week, a few improvements to make."
