Joe Root. (Photo Source : Twitter)
Just like Day 4, rain can once again ruin England’s chances to win the Manchester Test. They have been terrific with both bat and bowl in the ongoing fourth Ashes Test of the series and thus, were the favourites to get the job done but rain has become their biggest nightmare. After losing the first two matches of the series, England skipper Ben Stokes was optimistic about winning the remaining three matches and getting their hands on the urn after eight long years. However, if the ongoing Test gets spoiled because of the rain, Australia will manage to take the series home.
Notably, Day 5 started with umpires inspecting the condition of the ground and that’s when it started raining again. The inspection got pushed and things are not looking great for the home team. Meanwhile, ahead of the day, former England skipper Joe Root was asked about his feelings going into the game, to which the cricketer stated that the team is charged up to give their best but also hopes that they get enough game time in order to win the game.
“Hopefully we can get a little bit lucky, it can skirt round us and get some cricket in. We knew rain was a possibility later on in the game so it sort of mapped itself out for us, what we needed to do. I think we executed that pretty well and got ourselves into a really strong position,” Root stated.
Australia looking to get lucky as rains come to their rescue on final day
“It would feel a little bit of a shame to not at least get the opportunity to get out there today and give ourselves a good chance to take those final wickets… If we get out there, we will throw everything at it as we’ve done all week and hopefully that’ll be enough,” Root told SkySports.
Notably, Australia are trailing by 61 runs while England need five more wickets to win the match in the ongoing Ashes Test. Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green are currently batting in the middle and Australia need a big partnership from them in case the play resumes on Day 5.