ISLAMABAD
\nEngland were left waiting on the rain as their push for an Ashes series-levelling win against Australia in the fourth Test at Old Trafford on Saturday was delayed by bad weather.
\nThis is a must-win match for England, currently 2-1 down with two to play, if they are to regain the Ashes.
\nThey headed into the fourth day of five in a commanding position with Australia 113-4 in their second innings, still 162 runs behind England\u2019s imposing first-innings 592.
\nEngland are effectively six wickets away from a win that would square the series at 2-2 heading into next week\u2019s fifth Test at The Oval in London.
\nBut persistent rain was still pelting down on Old Trafford \u2014 with the pitch and square fully covered \u2014 when play should have resumed at the scheduled start time of 11am.
\nThere are now fears that rain on both Saturday and Sunday could scupper England\u2019s bid to draw level, with Old Trafford notorious for weather interruptions \u2014 the Manchester ground has had 24 complete days rained off in Test cricket, plus an additional two entire Tests abandoned.
\nEngland restricted world Test champions Australia to 317 in their first innings at Old Trafford, with Chris Woakes taking 5-52. Then, scoring rapidly, England passed 500 in a home Ashes innings for the first time since their 1985 series win over Australia.
\nOpening batsman Zak Crawley\u2019s 189 laid the foundation in an inning where six of England\u2019s top seven all made fifties, with Jonny Bairstow left stranded on 99 not out when last man James Anderson was lbw on his Lancashire home ground.
\n\u2018Weather is the weather\u2019
\nFast bowler Mark Wood, a key figure in England\u2019s three-wicket win in the third Test at Headingley, then ripped through Australia\u2019s top order late on Friday with a superb burst of 3-17 as he dismissed Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith and Travis Head.
\n\u201cThe weather is the weather,\u201d said Bairstow after Friday\u2019s close. \u201cWhat comes will come and we can control what we have done so far in the game which is score at a rate that puts us in a position that hopefully forces a result.\u201d
\nAustralia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood added: \u201cIt would be great to lose a few overs here and there and make our job a bit easier hanging in there.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re well behind and it\u2019s easy to see that.\u201d
\nEngland are bidding to become just the second side in Ashes history to win a series from 2-0 down. The Australia team of 1936\/37, inspired by batting great Don Bradman, overturned that deficit to win 3-2.
\nIf the weather does condemn the fourth Test to a draw, England may be left to rue a couple of key moments in the opening two matches of the series.
\nIn the first Test at Edgbaston, England captain Ben Stokes declared on 393-8 on the first day when star batsman Joe Root was 118 not out and in a position to take the hosts to an impregnable total.
\nAustralia went on to win a thrilling match by two wickets.
\nAnd in the second Test at Lord\u2019s, England were well-placed at 188-1 in their first innings only to collapse to 325 all out. Australia then completed a 43-run win despite Stokes\u2019s stunning second-innings 155.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD England were left waiting on the rain as their push for an Ashes series-levelling win against Australia in the fourth Test at Old Trafford on Saturday was delayed by bad weather. This is a must-win match for England, currently 2-1 down with two to play, if they are to regain the Ashes. They headed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-344777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n