The Ashes LIVE: England vs Australia score and fourth Test updates

Just to illustrate how damp it is, Sky’s Ian Ward is presenting under an umbrella – inside. The other Old Trafford’s roof is famously leaky, and it appears the neighbours are struggling, too.

There is a whisper of a potential patch of clearer skies that might pass through this afternoon, but will that leave enough of a window to get the outfield fit and proper for play?

Australia have now rocked up, not necessarily minding a mosey through the Manchester murk given the mire in which they find themselves. A weekend wipeout wouldn’t be how they would have ideally liked to retain the Ashes and a real spoiler on this brilliant series, but with tomorrow’s forecast worsening, the possibility, sadly, can’t be ruled out.

The mayors of Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire have pleaded with the England and Wales Cricket Board to reconsider its northern snub for the 2027 men’s Ashes.

England captain Ben Stokes admitted earlier this week he was “devastated” by the allocation for the five-Test series in four years’ time, with both Headingley and Emirates Old Trafford missing out.

It means that the most northerly of the grounds will be Trent Bridge, which has not staged a men’s Ashes Test since 2015, while Edgbaston, Lord’s, the Kia Oval and the Ageas Bowl are also host venues.

And, if you hadn’t already deciphered as much, we do officially have a delayed start. It’s also damp around the grounds in the County Championship, though not at Lord’s, where Middlesex are fighting for their lives against title-chasing Surrey. Their lead is 77 after a battling ninth wicket partnership between Josh De Caires and Ethan Bamber took them into the black late last night – though losing De Caires, son of Mike Atherton, in the last over yesterday was a major blow.

Essex were hoping to put the pressure on Surrey’s front-runners with a victory, but found themselves similarly frustrated by Kent on Day Three. It appears we may get morning play at Chelmsford, though – the home side have three wickets left to take with their foes only 14 in front.

Ben Stokes has arrived, plodding through the puddles alongside Jonny Bairstow, the England captain’s hood up. It does look rather miserable out there – more a morning for buckets rather than bucket hats, though a couple of Stokes’s players still indulge in their headwear of choice.

With the brollies up for the foreseeable at Old Trafford, let’s check in on a bit of history elsewhere in the cricketing world this morning, specifically at Mirpur, where Fargana Hoque has recorded the first hundred by a Bangaldeshi women in ODIs. Bangladesh have really impressed over the last couple of weeks against a slightly below-par India, though Harleen Deol and Harmanpreet Kaur are hot in pursuit of the hosts’ 225/4.

So the indications are that it will be a day for ducks in Manchester. Speaking of which, Chris Woakes’s first-baller yesterday was England’s first scoreless dismissal of the series.

For now, though, time for a bit of thumb twiddling, with one of England’s senior seamers up and about on Twitter to advocate for a Sri Lankan approach to covering the playing area. Watching the army of cover hauliers go about their work in Galle and Colombo really is quite a sight.

Should the rain relent a little later, the home attack will have some favourable bowling conditions to enjoy. Mark Wood and Chris Woakes were excellent last night as England continued to do all they could to set up a shot at victory, knowing that this sort damp day was always a possibility.