England will have their eyes on the skies as they attempt to dodge the rain and turn three dominant days into victory in the fourth Ashes Test.
The hosts need to win at Emirates Old Trafford to have any chance of reclaiming the urn and have done everything in their power to set up a winning position.
A thumping first-innings lead of 275, built around Zak Crawley’s 189 and an unbeaten 99 from the stranded Jonny Bairstow, gave them full control before Australia slipped to 113 for four.
With Mark Wood tearing in to claim three for 17 and a cushion of 162 runs, England would back themselves to get the game moving over the weekend but may find the weather forecast harder to defeat than the tourists. Long, heavy showers are expected on Saturday and Sunday and the pressure will be on to maximise any passages of play that are possible.
With six sessions on the table they will be hoping a fresh bowling attack has enough time, but Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood has already broken cover to admit he would be happy to watch the heavens open. Marnus Labuschagne remains in place on 44 not out, with in-form all-rounder Mitch Marsh at the start of his innings.
England pile into toiling Australia
Crawley laid the foundations for England, who added 208 to their overnight score which took them to a formidable 592, with fifties for Ben Stokes, Harry Brook and Bairstow. This was England’s highest total in a home Test since August 2011, their best score in the Ashes since January 2011 at Sydney and the first time they have gone past 500 on their own shores against Australia since August 1985.
Tweet of the day
All eyes will be on the skies this weekend – and the view of the BBC lead weather presenter does not augur well.
Quote of the dayJonny 99
Bairstow was left high and dry, one short of a 13th Test ton, after number 11 batter James Anderson was trapped leg-before by Cameron Green. The previous delivery, Bairstow had turned down a risky return run which would have taken him to three figures. This was Bairstow’s second 99 at this ground – although on that occasion against South Africa six years ago Anderson was blameless as the Yorkshireman was lbw missing a sweep off Keshav Maharaj.
Pat down
An analysis of 23-0-129-1 makes for grim reading for the Australia captain, who doubtless would not have been consoled by claiming the wicket of his opposite number Ben Stokes. Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting wondered aloud on Sky Sports whether Cummins was “starting to get a bit mentally and physically worn out”, having played in and captained the side in the World Test Championship final and four Ashes matches inside the last seven weeks. His partners in crime Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc hardly fared any better as the trio leaked a barely believable 392 between them from 75 overs.
Duck-ing the trend
Chris Woakes, whose priceless 32 not out got England over the line in the Headingley run-chase, nicked off from his first ball to collect England’s first duck of the series. In the last Ashes in 2021-22, there were 17 scoreless dismissals. Woakes’ fortunes improved with the ball in hand as he snared David Warner for the second time in the match courtesy of an inside edge on to his stumps.
Century Mark
Wood snaring the valuable wicket of Steve Smith for a second time in the match, after Australia’s vaunted number four was given the hurry up by a steeply rising bouncer, was Wood’s 100th Test wicket. It has taken Wood 30 matches and eight years to reach the milestone. Interestingly, the identity of his first Test wicket was a certain Brendon McCullum – now England head coach – at Lord’s in May 2015.
Imlach puts Harpy Eagles’ West Indies Championship success down to togetherness- “We had different players stand up at different times”
Togetherness was the main reason for the Guyana Harpy Eagles successful defence of their West Indies Championship title according to skipper Tevin Imlach.
The Harpy Eagles recovered from a draw and a loss in their first two games to win their final five games on their way to winning their second straight title.
“We had different players stand up at different times which is very important,” Imlach said in an appearance on the Mason & Guest radio show on Tuesday.
“You never want to rely on one or two players. We have a lot of depth in our batting and we have three very good spinners that would’ve played for the West Indies already in Gudakesh Motie, Veerasammy Permaul and Kevin Sinclair,” Imlach added.
Sinclair and Imlach finished third and sixth on the top run scorers list with 508 and 485 runs, respectively.
Sinclair made one hundred and two fifties and finished with an average of 63.50 in his seven games while Imlach, who missed the first two rounds of the tournament while on West Indies duty, made two hundreds and three fifties in his five games and finished with an average of 53.88.
The Harpy Eagles also had two more batsmen cross the 300-run mark in Kevlon Anderson (332) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (323). Kemol Savory narrowly missed out on joining this club after finishing with 289. Chanderpaul and Savory also both scored a century, each, this season.
It was also a collective effort with the ball for the champions. Permaul led the way with 29 wickets in seven games followed by pacer Nial Smith who finished with 20 wickets from four matches.
Motie and Isai Thorne followed with 19 wickets from five and six matches, respectively, while Kevin Sinclair took 13 wickets in seven games and Ronaldo Alimohamed took 12 wickets in six outings.
This season was also Imlach’s first captaining the Harpy Eagles in the four-day format after taking over from the retired Leon Johnson who led Guyana to six regional four-day titles.
“It was challenging,” Imlach said about filling Johnson’s shoes.
“Big shoes to fill obviously with Leon Johnson retiring but it was good. It is much different when you play with these guys and when you’re in a leadership position because you have to be the one making the calls that they may not necessarily always like. These players want the ball in their hands at all times and want to make a difference so sometimes it is difficult. It’s a good learning experience. I’m learning about them and they’re learning about me as well,” he added.
Imlach was also a member of the West Indies Test squad to Australia in December last year. He said that despite not getting a game, he took some things from his net sessions down under into this first-class season.
“It was very good. It was different to what we are accustomed to in the Caribbean. The pitches are a lot bouncier and the ball tends to seam around a bit more. I didn’t manage to play in the games but I spent some time in the nets and it was good. It was fruitful. I learned a lot that I took into this season,” he said.
Imlach's next assignment could be as part of the regional side to take on England in three Tests from July 10-30.
Nortje makes international return for South Africa's T20 World Cup squad
Anrich Nortje earned a recall to South Africa's fold as he was included in the Proteas' 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup.
Nortje has been in action in the Indian Premier League, but has not played for South Africa, who will be captained by Aiden Markram, in nine months.
While he has taken seven wickets in six matches for the Delhi Capitals, Nortje has gone at 13.36 runs per over, but has been given the nod due to his pace.
"Anrich has got another month before the World Cup starts so I have no doubt he'll hit his straps," South Africa coach Rob Walter said.
"It's good to see that his speed is up. The one thing Anrich has that separates him from others is raw pace. There's not many guys who can bowl 150kph and he can. Pace is an X-factor."
Lungi Ngidi has missed out, though he is a travelling reserve.
Quinton de Kock has not not been in good form, but has made the cut due to historical performances. He is no longer under contract at Cricket South Africa (CSA) and retired from ODIs last year.
"Quinny, we've seen him do it time and time again for us," Walter said.
"Reeza [Hendricks] has been a star performer for us in T20 cricket, was a standout in this domestic CSA T20 challenge again, and Ryan Rickelton has had two outstanding competitions really where he's played the brand of cricket that we're looking to play.
"And then we're going to have Markram and that'll be the top order. It's mostly a performance-based decision and from Quinton's point of view is just a real knowledge of what he's capable of."
Rickelton and Ottniel Baartman have been standout performers in the SA20 this year, and could earn their maiden T20I caps.
South Africa did not make it out of the Super 12 stage at the last World Cup in 2022.
Three big players, Temba Bavuma, Rilee Rossouw and Wayne Parnell, have missed out compared to the squad for that tournament.
The Proteas start their World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka on June 3, after playing a warm-up series against West Indies.
South Africa squad:
Aiden Markram (capt), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.
IPL: Stoinis key for LSG as they rise to third after seeing off Indians
Marcus Stoinis starred for Lucknow Super Giants as they edged to a four-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians to move into third in the Indian Premier League.
Mumbai's chances of another high-scoring innings were dented early on as Ishan Kishan's low lob was taken by Mayank Yadav before Suryakumar Yadav was caught behind and walked after a successful Lucknow review inside the first three overs.
The Indians struggled to get going, and even Nehal Wadhera's 46 from 41 balls and Tim David's unbeaten 35 off 18 were not enough to drag Mumbai over the 150 mark as they finished their 20 overs on 144-7.
Having been left out of India's T20 World Cup squad, Lucknow captain KL Rahul managed 28 before he was dismissed in the fourth over.
But thanks to Stoinis' heavy lifting, as he plundered 62, including seven fours and two sixes, LSG looked set to cruise to victory.
The momentum stalled, though, when Stoinis was caught out by Tilak Varma, but Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya eventually saw them over the line with just four balls left to play with.
Data Debrief: Another happy away day for Stoinis
This is the third game in which Stoinis has passed 50, and he has enjoyed another high score away from home after reaching 124 in LSG's trip to Chennai Super Kings.
Despite making an early exit, Rahul (406), is now up to fourth in the race for this season's orange cap, although Virat Kohli continues to set the pace with 500 runs.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
