Cricket gods leave Australia to fight another day

After what has been some fantastically spirited and determined cricket from England, the hard work is slowly washing away as the rain arrived mid-way through the fourth day. With an English victory on the cards, it all but seems that a draw is starting to become a larger possibility to deny England a victory.

Well, to some extent, unsurprising James Anderson did not survive long in the first session of day 4 at the MCG. In fact, he was gone on the first ball leaving Alistair Cook at the non-striker's end at 244 not out. Moreover, Cook registered the highest test score for an opening batsman to carry his or her bat through an innings.

With what was a somewhat daunting deficit for Australia to deal with, they certainly started off with the right intent. In particular, Camron Bancroft was looking in fine touch along with David Warner to aggressive early in his innings. But with some lazy shots from Bancroft and Khawaja, Warner was left to go into a "sedated" state. I am afraid that Khawaja's form is becoming a bit of a concern for the Australian side, as this series so far has not been to a high standard that he is known to perform at. There is no doubt that he has the capability to perform at this level, however, his current form is not supporting that. Khawaja is one of my favourite players to watch, his slow-paced innings and survivalist approach is hindering his ability to assert himself at the crease. Khawaja at the moment is looking like the player he was before he was dropped from the test side earlier in his career. I believe that he came out with the right intent against Moeen Ali, however, he was out playing a lazy shot against James Anderson to a decent delivery. I hope that Australia does persist with Khawaja as I think he does have a knack for bouncing back and providing that foundation for the team.

Despite a low and slow wicket at the MCG, Australia's standards have been pretty poor, to say the least. Whether it is the fact that they have already sealed the series or that England has just been able to carry momentum from the second and third day, I am firm on the belief that Australia has been completely outplayed. Moreover, I think that the arrival of rain has to some extent potentially saved Australia from humiliation because the type of cricket at times has not been great. Dropped catches, poor spells and at times some ordinary batting has come back to bite the hosts, but to their luck, the heavens opened up to them and gave them some respite.

But as England have remained on top of this test match so far and kept Australia at bay, some controversies have sparked. In particular, the 'ball tampering' case. Witnessing it on the replay, there was no doubt that it was an ugly scene to witness as there was a lot of scepticism of whether the hosts were attempting to illegally tamper with the ball in an attempt to achieve some reverse swing on a lifeless pitch. However, at the moment the allegations have been cleared and it was justified by the England coach that it was a case of cleaning the ball and that the umpires were notified of the actions, hence no issues erupted.

Whilst I think that England has had an outstanding test match so far, they are still left with their greatest dilemma. And that is how to get out Steve Smith. His wicket is the key for the English if they are to have any chance of pulling off a remarkable victory at the MCG. Although, I think that a draw is the most likely result, and English victory is certainly on the cards for me. If the tourists can aim to claim around 3 wickets in the first session and have the hosts all out just before tea, I can see the tourists have their first win of the series given if there is no rain.

For Australia's sake, they will have to bat out of their skin and look to have a lead of around 230 at drinks before the tea break to have a solid 50 odd overs at the tourists. Considering that Australia has played an exceptionally poor test match, there is yet a chance for them in fighting back. But, without Mitchell Starc, I do not believe that Australia has the amount of firepower in dismantling the English side in the fourth innings.

Ultimately all will be revealed on the fifth day of the fourth Magellan Ashes test match at the MCG and I do see England with a strong chance to pull off a remarkable win in a thrilling display of test match cricket.