England's hopes for a series-levelling victory against Australia were put on hold due to persistent rain at Old Trafford on Saturday.
With the series currently standing at 2-1 in favour of Australia, the fourth Test is a must-win for England. As the day began, Australia found themselves at 113/4 in their second innings, still trailing England's imposing first-innings total of 592 by 162 runs.
The home side's position seemed commanding, and they were effectively just six wickets away from securing a much-needed win that would square the series at 2-2. However, unfavourable weather conditions prevented play from resuming at the scheduled start time of 11:00 am (1000 GMT).
There are growing concerns that the rain may continue to disrupt play on both Saturday and Sunday, threatening England's chances of drawing level in the series. Old Trafford's history of weather interruptions, with 24 complete days rained off in Test cricket and two entire Tests abandoned, adds to the uncertainty.
England displayed a strong performance in the previous days, restricting the world Test champions Australia to 317 in their first innings, with Chris Woakes claiming an impressive 5-52. In reply, England scored rapidly, crossing the 500-run mark in a home Ashes innings for the first time since 1985, when they triumphed over Australia.
Opener Zak Crawley's outstanding knock of 189 laid the foundation for England's strong first innings, with six of their top seven batsmen scoring half-centuries. Jonny Bairstow was left stranded on 99 not out when last man James Anderson was lbw on his home ground of Lancashire.
England's pace bowler Mark Wood played a pivotal role in the third Test at Headingley, and in the fourth Test, he delivered a superb spell, taking 3-17 to dismiss key Australian batsmen Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, and Travis Head.
Speaking about the weather, Bairstow said, "What comes will come, and we can control what we have done so far in the game, which is to score at a rate that puts us in a position that hopefully forces a result."
For Australia, fast bowler Josh Hazlewood expressed the desire to benefit from any potential loss of play due to rain, as they found themselves trailing England by a significant margin.
England are aiming to become only the second side in Ashes history to win a series from a 2-0 deficit. The Australian team of 1936/37, led by the legendary Don Bradman, achieved this feat by overturning the deficit and winning 3-2.
If the weather continues to hamper play and the fourth Test ends in a draw, England may rue some key moments in the earlier matches of the series. In the first Test at Edgbaston, England captain Ben Stokes declared on 393-8 when star batsman Joe Root was unbeaten on 118, missing an opportunity to set an impregnable total. Australia ultimately won the thrilling match by two wickets.
Similarly, in the second Test at Lord's, England was well-positioned at 188-1 in their first innings before suffering a collapse and being bowled out for 325. Australia went on to secure a 43-run victory despite Stokes's magnificent second-innings score of 155.
(With inputs from AFP)
