Ashes 2019: Australia wrestle back control after Joe Root and Rory Burns give England hope in fourth Test
Re-live all the action from the fourth Test at Old Trafford
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Your support makes all the difference.England face a fight to the keep their Ashes campaign afloat after Josh Hazlewood squashed a brave resistance from Rory Burns and Joe Root on day three of the fourth Test.
Responding to Australia's formidable declaration mark of 497 for eight, England closed on 200 for five, still 98 short of the follow-on target at Old Trafford.
Their hopes of saving the game and the urn were aided by conditions in Manchester, with morning rain and bad light in the evening allowing just 64 overs possible out a planned 98, while for long periods Burns (81) and Root (71) appeared in control of matters.
In the end the pair shared a defiant stand of 141 in nearly 53 overs - their second-century partnership and England's biggest of the series - only for Hazlewood to intervene with a late, decisive spell. Re-live the action live:
When is the fourth Ashes Test?
The fourth Test takes place on 4-8 September at Old Trafford.
What time does it start?
The toss will take place at 10:30am on Wednesday 4 September, with play due to get underway each day at 11am.
Where can I watch it?
The Test will be shown live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10am.
Teams
England: Burns, Denly, Root, Roy, Stokes, Bairstow, Buttler, Overton, Archer, Broad, Leach.
Australia: Warner, Harris, Labuschagne, Smith, Head, Wade, Paine, Cummins, Starc, Lyon, Hazlewood.
Good morning and welcome to Day Four of the fourth Ashes test match. England trail Australia by 297 runs with Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow at the crease for the hosts.
Their first job is to score the 98 runs needed to avoid the follow on and then they'll want to get as close to Australia's first innings score of 497 as possible.
It's been seven years since Andrew Strauss called it a day on his England career. Since then England have been searching for a replacement to open the batting, things got worse when Sir Alastair Cook retired too.
But have they discovered something with Rory Burns?
Rory Burns and Joe Root gave England a slim chance with a partnership of 141 throughout the afternoon yesterday before Josh Hazlewood blew them away with three wickets in 40 minutes last night.
Today the job falls to Stokes, Bairstow and Buttler.
They're the only front line batsmen left for England and one of them has to go on to get a big score, preferably in the three figure region.
At the same time they have to bat well together, two partnerships of 100 or more and England will more or less save the game.
Australia will come at England hard this morning. The new ball is due in just six overs time, Hazlewood and Cummins will probably take it and this passage of play could decide the match.
If Australia skittle England's front line batsmen then they could be all out before lunch.
Stokes and Bairstow have to look to survive this morning and then take the attack to Australia in the afternoon.
Some sad news from the world of cricket yesterday as Abdul Qadir passed away. He was known as reviving the art of leg spin bowling and became a mentor to Shane Warne:
England's biggest chance to get anything from the game is to take it as deep as possible. Bat long and bat well.
Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow are under a bit of pressure to score runs and this is a big opportunity for them to show the guts and skill needed to succeed in test match cricket.
It was a difficult day so Mitchell Starc yesterday. He's been waiting for his opportunity in this series but didn't come to the races yesterday. Something has to change if he wants to play a part at the Oval:
England have their work cut out today and opener Rory Burns explained their plan to go about it when he said:
"We've got some work, but it's clear what we need to do.
"We've got some batters left in the hutch and we're only a couple of good partnerships from asking them to make a play.
"The way the Headingley game went, anything is possible.
"We're not that far behind. It's about putting pressure back on them and playing well."
Pat Cummins bowled a ten over spell yesterday that was fiery, accurate and intimidating yet ultimately fruitless for him personally.
According to CricViz it was the kind of spell that would usually take 1.3 wickets which shows how well Burns and Root played against it:
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