Labuschagne frustrates England as Old Trafford Test enters final day
Ashes Day 18: Old Trafford, Manchester.
Ashes Day 18: Old Trafford, Manchester.
Saturday 22nd July 2023
Australia 317 all out and 214–5
England 592 all out (lead by 61 runs)
With heavy overnight rain leaving pools of water on the uncovered outfield in Manchester, any chance whatsoever of play today looked incredibly remote this morning. Reluctantly, I turned once more to the radio institution that is “Test Match Special” as their team of ex players and commentary professionals are rather adept at filling the void of elongated weather delays, and for an hour I escaped a bleak looking Old Trafford for a bittersweet cricketing tale of one of their own, a King amongst Princes and one of my favourite players of all time. Shane Warne was just 52 years of age when life bowled him a devastatingly cruel “googly” in March of last year. He may have ruined umpteen Winter’s mornings for me watching England have their arse handed to them by the monstrously good team of Australians that surrounded him, but you couldn’t help but love the competitive spirit that poured forth from him or the sheer love of the game he imbued into every stint behind the microphone in a post cricket media career he was born to have. Life is a cruel mistress, but for an hour I laughed and smiled along at the stories of “Warnie” I already knew, of cigarettes and alcohol, fast cars and fast living and, according to ex England captain Michael Vaughan, lasagne sandwiches as a Christmas Day meal!
“Saturday Night Footy” was up next. More commonly known as Australian Rules Football (or the even more simpler Aussie Rules), I distractedly watched a game Shane Warne adored as whispers filtered through The Matrix on a rainy Saturday morning watching a live game of football from the other side of the world who are, let’s face it, living in the future, that the incessant rain of Manchester had stopped, golf at The Open championship 40 or so miles away in Liverpool was being played in short sleeved shirts and maybe, just maybe, the two premier sporting events of the year being played just 40 miles apart over the same weekend may escape any further wrath from the weather gods. An hour of links golf later and the whispers turned to shouts of sporting confirmation: Old Trafford was remarkably deemed fit for play and at 2.45pm, England could begin their quest to take 6 Australian wickets in double quick time to force a deserved victory, take The Ashes series to a tantalising score of 2–2, and next week’s final Test Match at The Oval being a de facto one-off match to decide the fate for the smallest trophy of all, in the grandest of all games.
At 2.45pm I was of course on my way to the cinema with my son to see Oppenheimer and whilst Christopher Nolan’s latest masterpiece was everything I hoped it would be, I returned to the glum news that rain had once again returned to Manchester, play for the day had officially ended, and one part of the “chuckle brothers” had scored a century for Australia.
Starting the day on 113–4 and still trailing England’s gargantuan 1st innings total of 592 by 162 runs, Australia desperately needed the innings of Marnus Labuschagne this afternoon. 44 not out overnight, the chirping larrikin from Klerksdorp in South Africa added 67 valuable runs before falling just before the rain on the “Nelson” score of 111 to a juggling catch from Jonny Bairstow off the “Golden Arm” bowling of Joe Root. The ex England captain roared his delight as the TV umpire confirmed that Labuschagne had to depart, but this was the only wicket snagged by an England bowling unit now looking as tired, ragged and depleted as their Aussie fast bowling counterparts. Whilst Labuschagne dispatched Root for 2 huge boundary 6’s as he approached his century, batting partner Mitchell Marsh continued to play against his attacking instincts, playing the game and his emergency defensive role brilliantly remaining 31 not out overnight from 107 balls received. Marsh started the day with just 1 from 27 balls, scored just 30 runs from 80 balls in the shortened period of play and from the highlights I’ve seen looks as solid as an oak tree.
England meanwhile may be a bowler short should there be any play tomorrow. I finished my sporting day as I began it with “Test Match Special” and tales were spun of an injury to Chris Woakes and fellow bowlers James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Mark Wood all looking jaded and ineffective. Captain Ben Stokes had to turn to the emergency and occasional off spin of Joe Root and whether by luck, judgement, injury or weather conditions, Root grabbed what could still prove to be a vital wicket before the close of play.
England still need 5 wickets for victory, but will they have the firepower to do so?
Or will the English weather be the killjoy this series doesn’t deserve?
See you in the morning!
Thanks for reading. Please see my daily recaps below from the first 3 days of this crucial 4th Ashes Test Match from Old Trafford:
England ahead on points after Day 1 in Manchester
Ashes Day 15: Old Trafford, Manchester.medium.com
Crawley punishes Aussie “school team” as England dominate at Old Trafford
Ashes Day 16: Old Trafford, Manchester.medium.com
Rain, Rain, Go Away. Come Again Some Other Day?
Ashes Day 17: Old Trafford, Manchester.medium.com