England vs Australia, 4th Test - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

From Stokes' decision to declare early on the opening day of the series to Khawaja making a significant contribution in the same Test to give Australia the advantage. From Cummins playing a captain's knock to take Australia home at Edgbaston to Stokes playing a fantastic knock of 155 to almost level the series at Lord's. From Bairstow's controversial stumping by Alex Carey to Nathan Lyon's brave effort to bat despite a serious injury. There have been a number of memorable moments in this series, but it is Australia who have managed to seize the most precious moment of all - they have retained the Ashes. No better feeling. Brendon McCullum had said he wouldn't have a beer with the Aussies after that Lord's incident and the "spirit of cricket" debate, but I'm pretty sure, the Australian boys wouldn't mind having a few tonight. They deserve it. Their fans back home and those in Manchester won't mind joining them for the celebrations tonight. That's all from this Test folks, it was a pleasure bringing you its live coverage over the last five days. It's a goodbye from Nikhil, Anurag and Mukesh! Join us on Thursday (27th July) for the coverage of the final Ashes Test.

Longest unbeaten series streak for a team in Ashes in the post-war era
8 Australia (1989-2002/03)
6 Australia (1958/59-1968)
4 Australia (2017/18-2023) *

Most Tests as captain before a draw
17 Ben Stokes (2020-23)
16 Dean Elgar (2017-22)
13 Monty Noble (1903-09)
Shakib Al Hasan has led in 19 Tests so far without any of them ending in a draw.

Pat Cummins | Australia Captain: Our preference is to come over here and win the Ashes. Not the greatest of circumstances but happy to retain it now. What happened today doesn’t really change how we look at the next game. It’s been an amazing group, we all turned up here very motivated. Will be a special week at The Oval. England batted really well, we tried a couple of plans but it didn’t work. We weren’t at our best so we’ll look into that. (On being asked about his fitness) Feel pretty good, having a break leading into this game was good. Probably haven’t bowled a lot of overs, feeling good. Marnus was fantastic with Marsh yesterday. He got to show his class out there. We all turned up here to win the series, retaining the Ashes is nice but we’re fully focussed on winning it.

Ben Stokes | England Captain: It's a tough one to take, you know. The kind of cricket we played on the first three days and to be on the wrong side of the weather, it's a tough one. But it's a part of the journey. I think coming into this game, it was a do or die game for us. Bowling them out for 320 and scoring 590, we couldn't do much. We'll have a lot of pride to play the next game. The injury to Pope made us think about the structure of the team. Very pleased with everyone's effort. I have been vocal about Crawley, what Zak does is he changes the game, the way he plays and the way he takes the bowlers on. That was an incredible innings, we knew an innings like that was not far away. It's amazing (their record). Broad and Jimmy have been unbelievable examples. Broad loves the battle and he loves playing against Australia, he has a good record against them. (When asked on having any regrets about Edgbaston) No. We know what the last game means to us as a team and we want to finish off on a high. Want the crowd to come out and support us.

Zak Crawley | Player of the Match: We were in a really good position to win but weather ruined it. We’ll go on to the next one and hope to win. We played a lot of good cricket on Day 3 and even yesterday but the rain cost us. We played really really well as a team. I’d say this is my best innings, it’s my favorite one. I felt in good touch, I knew a score was coming if I stuck with the process. I haven’t been stuck at one end against quality bowling, they haven’t had a chance to set me up. I’ve tried to take a few more singles and get boundaries when I get going. I take a lot of confidence, every bowler I’ve faced from their side has been high quality. Duckett is a phenomenal player, seen him score a lot of runs. We’re very different so it works quite well. Every game is massively important for us, we keep building.

The Ashes, 2023 thus far..
Edgbaston: Captain Cummins rises to the occasion as Australia take a 1-0 lead.
Lord's: Stokes plays a blinder of 155, but Australia survive the storm and go 2-0 up.
Headingley: Wood's and Woakes' all-round brilliance keeps England's Ashes hopes alive.
Manchester: Rain has the final say! No play on Day 5 as Australia retain the urn.

- Highlights of the Test
- Day 1
- The Australian batters get off to good starts, but none of them manage to convert those starts into formidable scores.
- Woakes takes four wickets in the day, but Broad steals the limelight by claiming his 600th Test wicket, entering the record books.
- Day 2
- Woakes' maiden five-wicket haul restricts Australia to 317 on a fantastic batting surface.
- Crawley's scintillating knock sets the platform for England, Root and Moeen make pivotal contributions as well.
- Day 3
- Bairstow remains stranded on 99* and England take a massive 275-run lead despite Hazlewood's five-wicket haul.
- Wood's fiery spell derails Australia in the final session, but the forecast for the remaining Test doesn't look promising.
- Day 4
- Rain washes out the morning session, however, Labuschagne notches up a solid century in the company of Marsh after resumption.
- Root breaks the partnership by dismissing Marnus, but rain spoils England's party once again as the final session goes for a toss.
- Day 5
- Game, Set, Match. Rain plays spoilsport, washes England's Ashes hopes away!

17:25 Local Time, 16:25 GMT, 21:55 IST: There you go! After playing so well for the most part of this Test, England find themselves in a helpless situation as rain has the final say in Manchester. It's a DRAW - Australia retain the Ashes! Stokes made the right call by electing to bowl first on a good batting wicket, and his bowlers didn't disappoint him either. By restricting Australia to 317 on a beautiful batting wicket, England got themselves into a strong position on the morning of Day 2. Following that, it was an even better performance put up by their batters as Crawley and Bairstow played spectacular knocks with handy contributions from other England batters. With more than two days remaining, England gained a massive 275-run lead following their Bazball approach, but the Australian batters - particularly Labuschagne and Marsh - had a gritty partnership on a rain shortened day where only 30 overs were bowled. Everyone was aware about the weather forecast for the final 2 days from the beginning of this Test, and the weather has stayed true to its words. Plenty of excellent performances from individuals of both the teams over the last 4-odd days, England almost overcame Australia, but England couldn't overcome the English weather. Labuschagne's 51 in the first innings and 111 in the second innings deserves a special shoutout. Stay around for the presentations..

Jiyas: When was the last time England won an Ashes series? It was in 2015 and if England are to win an Ashes series again, it will be 10 years later in 2025.

Danish: Puddles of water all over the ground. Wonder what the match officials are waiting for!

16:55 Local Time, 15:55 GMT, 21:25 IST: Looks like umpire Joel Wilson is having a word with the captains. Is rain going to have the final say?

Pranshu Shukla: Even though rain seems to have bailed Australia out in this match, the tactics employed by Cummins should be thoroughly re-examined and re-evaluated before heading into the fifth test. Field placements have been very defensive and the captain and coach should have a discussion before the final test.

Karthik: No team has won a Test after electing to bowl first at Old Trafford. The record stays intact.

Aayush Bose: Many people just say that Australia gets lucky every time. But we all know that there is a process which the Aussies follow and they stick to it no matter what. The entire team is always on the same page at any given point of time. Also about luck: Fortune favours the brave!

16:12 Local Time, 15:12 GMT, 20:42 IST: We are getting into that territory. Still raining, puddles everywhere on the field. The light conditions aren't great either. Any time, any moment..

15:54 Local Time, 14:54 GMT, 20:24 IST: The word from the ground is that it's "only a matter of time before it's called off". Grim indeed.

Santos: The realization that this might as well be Anderson and Broad's last home Ashes hits hard now!

15:30 Local Time, 14:30 GMT, 20:00 IST: Still raining. That's the update, that's it.

Munish: It's harsh to blame the timing of the declaration. England clearly wanted to bat just once and believed they had enough time to take 10 wickets. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Archit: Sad to see, rain deciding who retains the Ashes but England have no one to blame themselves in the end, they had control in 1st Test and let it slip.

15:05 Local Time, 14:05 GMT, 19:35 IST: Still no let-up in the rain and hopes of having any play at all are dwindling quickly.

Nabajit Rajbongshi: Even if rain stops now, it'd be a difficult job for England to win this as a considerable amount of time will be needed to start the game after a heavy pounding like this. It seems like English weather doesn't want England to regain the Ashes.

14:50 Local Time, 13:50 GMT, 19:20 IST: Nothing new or exciting to update as it continues to rain in Manchester. Puddles of water beginning to form on the outfield with more rain around the corner. Was proving to be a painful weekend for England and its fans, and looking at the present conditions, things are only going to get worse. A couple of sessions have already been washed out today, and it wouldn't be a surprise, even if the final session does.

Prakhar Sachdeo: Between declaring too early in Birmingham and declaring too late in Manchester, England lost the chance to regain the Urn!

Sahil: One needs to be consistent with their decisions. In the first Test, England declared early to make a statement, but in this Test, they kept playing despite taking a healthy lead. Given the weather around, a lead of around 170-180 could have been sufficient in my opinion.

13:59 Local Time, 12:59 GMT, 18:29 IST: Can confirm that Manchester isn't the place to be if you like sunshine. Still raining.

Mallikarjun: England did something similar against New zealand earlier and it backfired then as it did now, they seem to make some funky decisions just to show how different their cricket is from the rest.

Sahil Parab: Well had England not declared it surely would have been a draw the way things panned out in the end. They did create enough chances in the whole game to win it. Sadly they were not able to take last 2 wickets and lost the game. Can't blame the process just because the result didn't go their way.

13:29 Local Time, 12:29 GMT, 17:59 IST: No signs of improvement at Old Trafford. The wait continues

Saurabh: The declaration on Day 1 of the Ashes seemed more like an attempt to make a statement than anything else. There was no cricketing logic to it at all - with only 78 overs into the game and your best batsman still out in the middle, why declare? To bowl what, 4 overs in the day?

Saurabh: The declaration on Day 1 of the Ashes seemed more like an attempt to make a statement than anything else. There was no cricketing logic to it at all - with only 78 overs into the game and your best batsman still out in the middle, why declare? To bowl what, 4 overs in the day?

Punit Agrawal: In hindsight, it is easy to say that it was a bad decision. However, if two wickets would have fallen in the seven overs bowled, the decision would be lauded as genius. Irrespective of the conditions, no batsman in the world wants to come in for 15 minutes. Wasn't a bad decision IMHO.

Gopal: That declaration on day 1 of the series was definitely ridiculous. Definitely cost them the match and perhaps the series. It was Ben Stokes showing off how casually he captains the side, which is his brand of cricket.

13:06 Local Time, 12:06 GMT, 17:36 IST: It's pelting down at the moment. The rain is getting heavier and chances of getting any play anytime soon look very bleak. Anyway, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best..

Now that we've had enough of weather updates, let's talk something about cricket. There were plenty of decisions taken, particularly the declaration that came right on day 1 of this series. England declaring despite Root going strong, having scored a solid century. What are your thoughts about the same? Was it England's arrogance or was it their overconfidence? That too against the World Test champions? Do you think the right call was made. We have enabled the 'Have Your Say' feature, so click on that and send us your opinions.. We shall try to post the best of the lot..

12:35 Local Time, 11:35 GMT, 17:05 IST: The rain is back and so are the covers. The luncheon break is on in the meanwhile. We were supposed to have a 13:00 local time start, but now that the rain is back, don't think play on Day 5 will start anytime soon. The entire square is under white sheets...