[Cricket] The Ashes - England v Australia - 4th Test, Old Trafford, July 19-23, 2023

[Beach Hut]

Starc seems to have injured his shoulder

 

[Billy in Bristol]

Will be at least 10 overs short at stumps...obvious Australia playing for the rain. Mind you England who need to win were 7 short yesterday.

 

[indy3050]

10 mins to go today, is it time for one of them to throw caution to the wind?

 

[Mackenzie]

Only 79.2 overs bowled in the day.

i‘m sure the crowd don’t mind, but that’s pretty average.

 

[Mancgull]

Need to get to 500 is my thinking. Pitch increasingly giving uneven bounce and so we won’t want to have to chase anything over 175 in the last innings, if weather allows.

 

[indy3050]

I must say, the Aussies making a special effort to congratulate Crawley was nice to see, well played.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Need to get to 500 is my thinking. Pitch increasingly giving uneven bounce and so we won’t want to have to chase anything over 175 in the last innings, if weather allows.

I think we will declare at or before lunch tomorrow regardless of the size of the lead. We have to bowl them out to win this match and the weather forecast isn’t that friendly.

 

[Rdodge30]

Need to get to 500 is my thinking. Pitch increasingly giving uneven bounce and so we won’t want to have to chase anything over 175 in the last innings, if weather allows.

Crawley on 5live after stumps said ‘hopefully we only need to bat once’ so I imagine they will want to be 250-260 in front ?

 

[The Fits]

Fair play Crawley.

 

[Mellotron]

I can’t help but worry we’re leaving ourselves too much to do and might’ve been better off risking our wickets by going bigger in that final hour.

The forecast looks absolutely awful. Probably a day or so’s play left.

 

[Bodian]

I can’t help but worry we’re leaving ourselves too much to do and might’ve been better off risking our wickets by going bigger in that final hour.

The forecast looks absolutely awful. Probably a day or so’s play left.

BBC

Met Office

Let's go with the latter!

 

[A1X]

BBC weather is shite, much more inclined to believe the Met Office

 

[banjo]

 

[Goldstone Guy]

The rain is going to make it tough to get a result but the positive is if it's not raining it'll be overcast and hopefully the ball will be swinging.

 

[Pevenseagull]

I've got a (for me) quite sizeable bet on the draw as 'disappointment insurance'. £50 at 5/2 placed when I looked at the weather forecast on Tuesday.

If England win I'll be absolutely delighted, if it's a draw I can cheer myself up with a gluttonous quantity of seafood and fine wine.

 

[Farehamseagull]

BBC
View attachment 163842

Met Office
View attachment 163843

Let's go with the latter!

Wierdly it’s always that way. I check both every day and the Met Office are always more optimistic than the BBC!

I would say the Met Office are usually more accurate too!

 

[KZNSeagull]

Sarah Keith-Lucas says the odd shower expected tomorrow but certainly "not a washout". I'm inclined to believe her
Get to 175 ahead before lunch then get them in!

 

[CHAPPERS]

Only 79.2 overs bowled in the day.

i‘m sure the crowd don’t mind, but that’s pretty average.

They need to start earlier. So much time about to be lost in a pivotal match and we are 17 overs down in two days.

 

[Weststander]

Last weekend the BBC got the forecast 100% correct on the timing of the big winds hitting Brighton, the MetOffice were way out. In my experience the success rate swings between them.

But going by the Met Office now the rain ends at 1 tomorrow, Saturday a wash-out per all super computers, Sunday decent.

Can we do the business in 5 sessions?

Betfair have 2.32 on a draw. Tempting?

 

[Jim in the West]

Last weekend the BBC got the forecast 100% correct on the timing of the big winds hitting Brighton, the MetOffice were way out. In my experience the success rate swings between them.

But going by the Met Office now the rain ends at 1 tomorrow, Saturday a wash-out per all super computers, Sunday decent.

Can we do the business in 5 sessions?

Betfair have 2.32 on a draw. Tempting?

Given the generally dire forecasts, I was pretty surprised how slowly we progressed post-tea. I’m sure it’s all part of a master plan, but Brook was unbelievably sedate…it was almost as if Bazball was consigned to the bin at tea and normal cricket resumed. Hopefully the ground staff at OT have all possible means of keeping the outfield dry over the next few days.