The Ashes: Australia in England 16th Jun - 31 July

[Gingerfinch]

What's the latest forecast and conditions for Manchester?

Rain all day I think but the forecasters have been known to get it wrong!

[Arthur Crabtree]

Appears pretty grim at the moment. That satellite projection thing looks like an unbroken deluge.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Met office has delivered a rain warning for the area.

[GarlicJam]

Oh, that's sad.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I sincerely hope the many thousands of Aussies who have travelled across the globe and spent their savings to see the Ashes- for some a once in a lifetime trip- will see plenty of cricket, and a result, today.

[alfie]

Don't like the look of those forecasts...

Still we weren't expected to see a ball bowled Saturday so who knows ? Couple of hours play might be enough.

Marnus and Mitch did a great job for Australia : full concentration , but ready to score whenever given the chance - good cricket. There was nothing in the pitch for the bowlers ; and the damp soft ball took the sting out of even Wood's pace : paradoxically being forced to use just spin in the later overs got the only wicket and created a lot of uncertainty just before tea . But England would have loved another half hour if they were permitted to use Wood after tea ! Can't have all you want.

As for the declaration that wasn't : I reckon seeing Australia batting 70 odd overs for 214/5 has demonstrated that an early close (lunch , or even overnight as some have suggested) would have been daft - or at least a pure piece of wild gambling. Bowling a competent Test side out for peanuts on this strip just was never going to happen ; so if England had closed with a lead of under 200 (thereby saving all of a dozen or so overs !) they'd almost certainly now be looking at an Australian lead of fifty plus and still wickets to take. If they got time to win from there : well they'd have time to win from where we are now rather more plausibly.

Of course all that is hypothetical : but I honestly don't think you can fault Stokes for taking the approach he did. All comes down to how much play is allowed ; and you can't know that for certain in advance so making decisions based on some imagined "over budget" is best left to armchair critics with nothing personally riding on their views.

If I have one criticism of England's bowling yesterday it is that I'd have liked to see a bit more hustle in field placings and chat with bowlers , to speed up the over rate. Aussie bats obviously ready to waste time whenever possible (and fair enough too) ; and those dreadful umpires who seem determined to make no effort to maximise playing minutes (grrr!) so no need to give them a hand .

My Australian born siblings are doing rain dances over here while we older family members pray for a few hours respite from the biblical downpours

I fancy the neutrals would mostly prefer to see England finish off a Test they have fairly dominated . and ensure a proper series decider at The Oval. So hope the weather gods are in the latter camp

[bigfluffylemon]

Looking pretty grim, weather wise.

[GarlicJam]

I sincerely hope the many thousands of Aussies who have travelled across the globe and spent their savings to see the Ashes- for some a once in a lifetime trip- will see plenty of cricket, and a result, today.

I honestly think that the majority of them will be happiest if Australia retains the Ashes today.

As they all would be aware - that's cricket.

Some may even be keen on an England victory, as they have certainly been the better team this test. But, that's cricket.

[Gingerfinch]

We're 2-1 down but I personally believe England are the better team. Should have won the first test and have been all over Australia at OT.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Inspection at 11am!

[Arthur Crabtree]

We're 2-1 down but I personally believe England are the better team. Should have won the first test and have been all over Australia at OT.

2-2 would be a fairer reflection of the balance of power.

Hard to pick a team of the series because of the impact of Wood and Woakes, and because the only spinner worth picking bowled for three innings.

[Arthur Crabtree]

But, provisionally...

Khawaja/Crawley/Labuschagne/Root/Stokes/Marsh/Carey/Starc/Wood/Broad/Lyon.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Covers coming off again...

[sussexpob]

Inspection at 11am!

Yeah, but the weather forecast basically shows rain all day....be surprised if we even get an over

[Arthur Crabtree]

No, it's not going to happen.

Sometimes it looks like the weather can skirt the ground, but the satellite today just looks like a fat expanse of dense rain squatting over the whole of Lancashire.