Rain ruins England’s victory hopes as Aussies retain Ashes

When the umpires finally gave their verdict at 5:24pm (UK time), there was delight in the Australian camp and dejection in the England dressing room. Australia have retained the Ashes urn, carrying a 2-1 series lead into the final Test at The Oval starting on Thursday.

It’s certainly not ideal when an Ashes series is decided by inclement weather, especially when the first three Tests have produced humdingers where the margins of victory were ever so slender.

Rain in England though is one of those eventualities that both teams would have always anticipated to play some part in this series. That it should in the fourth Test at Old Trafford where England outplayed Australia from the outset is a setback that the hosts will find hard to digest.

“Tough one to take, playing the cricket we played and then to get on the wrong side of the weather. It’s all part of the journey,” England captain Ben Stokes lamented at the post-match presentation.

As feared by England, the forecast for rain to cause havoc in Manchester on Sunday turned out to be all too accurate. Australia seemed to be heading towards a certain defeat when stumps were called on the third day — they were 113/4 and trailing England’s first-innings total by 162 runs — but they had to negotiate only 30 overs on the final two days due to rain.

In the play that was possible between the lunch and tea interval on Day 4, Marnus Labuschagne and Mitchell Marsh batted responsibly to keep the England bowlers at bay. If one of them had fallen early in the session, it could have opened the door for particularly speedster Mark Wood to run through the Australian lower-order. But Labuschagne’s first Test ton in England — a timely return to form after a relatively lean series — prevented such an outcome.

“Our preference is to come over and win, but nice to retain, something to be proud of,” Australia skipper Pat Cummins said.

While Australia could point to their victories in the first two Tests to argue that they are deserved holders of the urn, England’s comeback in the series has been simply stirring. Having lost at Edgbaston and Lord’s, they were eyeing a slice of history by looking to emulate Don Bradman’s Australia in 1936/37 as the only team to win an Ashes series after being 0-2 down.

If not for rain playing spoilsport, they would have certainly had a shot with the momentum clearly on their side. England’s turnaround has been spearheaded by Wood and Chris Woakes, who were included in the team only from the third Test onwards. Wood’s success has come from his ability to trouble the Australian batters with his searing pace and awkward bounce. Even Steve Smith has got into a spot of bother, getting out to the 33-year-old from Durham in both innings of the fourth Test.

Woakes has been an equally valuable addition. With James Anderson a few notches below his best and perhaps inching ever closer to bidding farewell from the game, Woakes has proved to be far more penetrative while hitting that probing channel outside off-stump. He also adds heft to the England lower-order at No.8, evidence of which was available in his unbeaten 32 at Headingley to take them past the finish line.

There are other gains for England. Zak Crawley has come good at the opening slot, finally repaying the trust of Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. After his swashbuckling 189 at Old Trafford, he’s the leading run-getter in the series with 385 runs at an average of 55.

Despite being assured of not losing the series, it’s ironic then that Australia have greater concerns. Their pace attack has looked one-dimensional while some of their batters have shown frailties against pace. They will hope to address some of those issues by putting up a much better show and winning at The Oval, which would ensure a first series victory in England since 2001.