Josh Hazlewood admitted he was crossing his fingers and hoping for rain at the end of another day of English domination, which ended with Australia 113 for four in their second innings, still 162 away from making England bat again.
The amount of rain likely to fall on Manchester over the weekend varies between forecasts, but all of them suggest Saturday’s play will be significantly affected, with parts of Sunday also in jeopardy. “I’d be very pleased if it rains,” Hazlewood said. “It’s obviously forecast, and forecasts can change all the time, but it would be great to lose a few overs – it would make our job a bit easier.”
But Jonny Bairstow, who scored a quickfire 99 to take England to a first-innings total of 592, said England could also benefit from the weather. “The weathermen have been right or they’ve been wrong, we’ll still turn up with the same mindset, which is to take six more wickets,” he said. “It’s been a really good day for us as a group. The skills the boys employed on that wicket were a credit to the bowling attack so coming in tomorrow, if there is some weather around, maybe some overheads, we’d like to think we could create some chances.”
After being fast-tracked back into the team following his recovery from a serious leg injury Bairstow’s performances, particularly as wicketkeeper, have attracted some criticism across the summer. But here he took a brilliant catch to dismiss Mitchell Marsh in Australia’s first innings and followed that with an excellent, aggressive performance with the bat.
“Everyone thinks I play better when people have a go at me. It gets a bit tiresome, to be honest,” he said. “To keep being told that you’re rubbish … well, if I was that rubbish I wouldn’t have played 94 Tests. There have been a couple [of catches] that have gone down. I’ve not kept wicket for three years. I’ve got nine pins, a plate and a wire that goes through my ankle. I’ve had nine months out. When you speak to the surgeon and he says, ‘I’m surprised you’re walking, never mind playing professional sport,’ I’m delighted to be where I’m at.
“You don’t know how bad it’s going to be. It could have ended my career, that’s exactly how bad it could have been. There’s times there’s aches and pains. People say you’re limping, well I am at times, because there’s a lot going on in the ankle. I’ve had criticism for pretty much all of my career. I’ve completely switched off from everything.”
