Australia 317 (Labuschagne 51, Marsh 51, Woakes 5-62) and 214 for 5 (Labuschagne 111) drew with England 592 (Crawley 189, Bairstow 99*, Root 84, Brook 61, Moeen 54, Stokes 51, Hazlewood 5-126)
Australia have retained the Ashes after escaping a fourth Test dominated by England with a rain-ruined draw. They will leave Manchester on Monday morning with a 2-1 lead, and have the opportunity to clinch a first series win in England since 2001 at The Oval next week.
After only 30 overs of play were possible between showers on Saturday, Australia trailed by 61 runs in their second innings with five wickets remaining heading into the fifth day at Emirates Old Trafford. But persistent showers meant that Sunday’s play was abandoned without a ball bowled, with the draw finally confirmed at 5.24pm.
Heavy overnight rain delayed the start on the fifth day, and planned inspections were then pushed back by persistent showers which swept across the ground. A start time of 1pm was announced during an early lunch break, but the rain returned almost immediately and then set in for the rest of the afternoon.
England’s players kicked a football around on the outfield, as if to signal their willingness to play, but eventually returned to the dressing room after being drenched. The rain only became heavier, with a substantial volume of standing water on the covers and puddles forming on the outfield.
By the time the umpires decided to call play off for the day, the vast majority of the sold-out crowd had gone home – with the Party Stand utterly deserted. Pat Cummins shook hands with Joel Wilson and Nitin Menon, before telling his team-mates that they could celebrate retaining the urn.
Ben Stokes spoke in the build-up to the Test about the prospect of the weather forecast forcing England to “push the game on even more” than usual and there was not much more they could have done. They scored at 5.49 runs per over in their only innings, and took 15 wickets in 161.2 overs in the field.
But the rain – and sluggish over-rates from both teams – limited the Test match to 269 overs, which proved insufficient for a result on either side. This was England’s first draw in the 17 matches they have played since Stokes’ appointment as captain last year, after 12 wins and four defeats.
For Australia, the result means that they cannot lose the series despite being on the back foot for the last two Tests. Four years ago, they left Manchester 2-1 up but lost at The Oval, missing the opportunity to win outright; they will be desperate to make amends next week.
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