United States
United Kingdom
Summary:
- The 4th test in the Ashes series will take place at Leeds from July 19-23
- England won the last test and are looking to tie the series with a win in the 4th test
- Australia must make key decisions regarding their playing XI
Australia took a commanding lead winning the first two Ashes test in the 5 match series. The Aussies were forced to make a couple of changes to their playing XI for the third test due to injuries and those forced changes ended up hurting them as England went on to win the test and keep the series alive.
The fourth test will take place in Manchester and Australia will be keen on winning the test and taking the Ashes. England who tasted success in the last test will use that winning momentum to put pressure on Australia who will not play at full strength.
Australia Must Get Playing XI Right
Australia was forced to leave out all-rounder Cameron Green and veteran spinner Nathan Lyon in the third test. Mitch Marsh who replaced Green did well for Australia by scoring a magnificent century and Green’s shoes were filled to a large extent.
Lyon’s absence was felt especially in the 4th innings as Aussie skipper Pat Cummins was not very confident of handing the ball to Lyon’s replacement who sent down a total of 9.3 overs in the test.
Australia have confirmed that Lyon will not take part in the rest of the series but there is no confirmation if Murphy will end up playing the remaining two tests as a replacement of Lyon.
Green should recover in time for the 4th test and Australia will have to make a decision as to whether they bring him right back and drop Marsh or do they sit Green out and play Marsh who looked in good nick.
Australia also needs to take a call on veteran opener David Warner who isn’t in the best of form. These key decisions could end up determining if Australia can winning the 4th test and the series or end up on the losing side once again.
England Unlikely To Make Changes To Playing XI
England finally got their playing XI right for the Leeds test by bringing in Chris Woakes and Mark Wood who delivered big time for England and helped them win.
We expect England to go with the same playing XI unless someone ends up getting injured in the next week and a chance of still winning the Ashes on home soil as we predicted.
