Australia captain Pat Cummins expects David Warner will play in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, diverting questions to whether the side will play both all-rounders, Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green, at the expense of spinner Todd Murphy.
“We’ll chat about it, but I imagine it will stay the same,” Cummins said of Australia’s opening combination, despite Warner damaging a passable tour by revisiting 2019 with another double failure against nemesis Stuart Broad at Headingley.
While the selectors – coach Andrew McDonald, selector on duty Tony Dodemaide, and panel chairman George Bailey – are also expected to endorse Warner, their main quandary is whether to recall Green following Marsh’s brilliant century at Headingley, or drop Murphy and play both all-rounders.
“That’s the obvious one,” Cummins said about Green, who missed the third Test due to a minor hamstring strain. “That’s the main change from last week, Cam comes back online. Basically, how do you fit seven really good batters and a keeper into a team or does someone need to miss out?”
Travis Head may have provided a pointer by performing a considerable amount of bowling with his off-spin during the team’s main practice session on Monday.
Murphy bowled nine overs at Headingley playing as a replacement for the injured Nathan Lyon, and only two in the second innings when England ran down a modest target of 251 to win by three wickets and keep the series alive. Australia lead 2-1 and need another victory to claim their first series win in England for 22 years.
Mitch Marsh, Cameron Green and Todd Murphy.Credit: Getty
“Every situation is different,” Cummins said. “We’ve played games with one quick [in India], we’ve played some games with heaps of quicks. It’s all really conditions based. As I said last week about Toddy, I would have loved to bowl him a bit more but there wasn’t a heap of overs in the game, the ball seemed to swing and seam a little bit, so that’s certainly something to weigh up this week.”
To play both Marsh and Green in the same side at the expense of Murphy would add to Australia’s batting and seam bowling, with the Manchester forecast typically cloudy and showers predicted on the weekend.
Cummins described the pitch as “really good”, but history could be a factor in the decision on whether to play without a specialist spinner at Old Trafford.
Of the leading wicket-takers at the ground, two of the top five are spinners, including Monty Panesar, who claimed 25 wickets in three Tests there from 2006 to 2008. The leading foreign bowler at the ground is West Indies off-spinner Lance Gibbs, once the world’s greatest wicket-taker in the 1970s. The leading Australian bowler at the ground is Shane Warne.
Guide to the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford
Teams
Australia: (Likely) David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Josh Hazlewood, Todd Murphy.
England: (Confirmed) Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Harry Brooks, Ben Stokes (c) Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson.
Pitch: Pat Cummins described it as “really good” despite a lot of recent rain, which is typical of Manchester’s climate. Former England and Lancashire captain Mike Atherton believes the Old Trafford pitch is one of the best in the country because of its consistent bounce and carry, which suggests a good contest between bat and ball.
Weather: The Australians remember the Old Trafford Test of four years ago as the coldest they’ve played. There may be a heatwave in parts of Europe, but Manchester will be cloudy with a temperature in the high teens and a chance of showers over the weekend. Sounds like good bowling conditions.
Key players
Australia: The soft dismissals of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith to Moeen Ali during Australia’s second innings at Headingley left Australia short of runs and opened the door for an England victory that kept the series alive. Smith made 211 and 82 in Australia’s 185-run victory at Old Trafford four years ago. Just half that many runs would put Australia on course for their first series victory in England for 22 years.
England: Like Jofra Archer’s pace changed the series in 2019, the arrival of Mark Wood in this series after missing the first two Tests recovering from injury shapes as a game changer. Wood uprooted the middle stump of Australia’s most prolific batsman in this series, Usman Khawaja, then swept away the tail, claiming a player of the match 5-34. A similar performance at Old Trafford could leave this series 2-2 with one to play.
Tellingly, England’s current spinner Moeen Ali, rushed out of Test retirement to replace the injured Jack Leach, has 16 wickets at 18.5 from three Tests at Old Trafford.
Moeen made his views clear about playing a spinner in Manchester.
“You have to play a spinner in a Test match no matter where it is in my opinion, but Old Trafford especially,” said Moeen, who became just the third England spinner to claim 200 Test wickets after dismissing Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith during the third Test at Headingley.
“I think the way they used him [Murphy] was a difficult one, I think the chase was a difficult one because we would have preferred facing a spinner and you were missing Nathan Lyon, who has been a massive part of the team and does an amazing job.
“Todd’s good, he looks really good, he’s got really good potential and I’m sure he’s going to bowl a lot more here. From a captain’s point of view, it’s not always easy to use somebody who’s pretty new to the side, especially a spinner, and I think that’s where captaincy really comes into it now.”
There is likely to be at least one change, with a fresh Josh Hazlewood returning to replace Scott Boland, who failed to take a wicket at Headingley.
Hazlewood took the last wicket of the Old Trafford Test four years ago after Steve Smith scored 211 and 82 to set up a 185-run victory.
Cummins is hoping that history repeats.
Watch every ball of the 2023 Ashes series live and exclusive on Channel 9 and 9Now.
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
