England have played fearless brand of cricket in the longest format since skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum joined forces last year.
Before the 2023 Ashes series, there were plenty of discussions about whether England would continue with their ultra-aggressive approach against Australia – the reigning World Test Champions.
As it turned out, the Three Lions backed their words with actions. In fact, Stokes shocked one and all by declaring England’s first innings at 393/8 on Day 1 of the Ashes opener.
However, the hosts lost the first two Tests at Edgbaston and Lord’s before winning the third game at Headingley to keep the Ashes alive at 1-2 with a couple more matches to be played.
Ahead of the penultimate Test, Stokes has said that the heavy rain forecast in Manchester could make England even more aggressive as they bid to level the Ashes.
"You never want to look too much into the weather but in the position we find ourselves in, we find we might have to," Stokes told reporters on the eve of the fourth Test.
"We know we have to win this game to take it to the last game for us to have a chance of getting the urn back.
"Going into the last game 2-0 down, we knew we had to win that so I think that helped us a little bit. Maybe again with the weather that's predicted, it might bring more out of us again knowing that we might have to push the game on even more than we normally do.
"We'll just have to wait and see. If the weather is what it's predicted to be, we might have to."
The current series has been compared with England's famous 2-1 victory over Australia in 2005. When asked if this could be the greatest series, the English captain replied: "If we win this one then going into the last game at 2-2, it would be hard not to say this is the best men's Ashes series in a long time, if not the best.
"Overall, take away Australia and England, the cricket that's been played has been absolutely brilliant. Everyone who's watched at the ground or at home on TV has just really enjoyed the cricket that's been played.
"There have been some pretty special moments out on the cricket ground, some special individual performances as well."
England have recalled seasoned campaigner James Anderson for the fourth Test at Old Trafford. He replaces seamer Ollie Robinson in the only change to their XI at Headingley.
Anderson, 40, was left out of the playing XI in Leeds after he took just three wickets at an expensive average of 75 in the first two Tests.
"When you're quality performer like Jimmy has been for the last 10 years, he is going to be disappointed that he's not contributed to the team like he normally does," Stokes said. "But I did say to him 'even if you're not taking wickets like you want to be doing, at the other end you see the pressure you're putting on the opposition'.
“He holds an end up without that being his main obligation with the ball. You don't get as many wickets as him without having the odd bad game here and there -- there's no issues whatsoever with Jimmy.”
(With AFP Inputs)
