Produced by: Hitansh Gaur
Designed by Sahaj Ajmani
Australia is once against leading the 73rd Ashes series against England, by winning 2 of the 3 matches played so far. All the matches have gone down to the wire so far.
England is hosting the Ashes for 37th time, three out of five matches have been played with Australia leading by 2-1. With two matches left to decide the winner, England and Australia have begun the fourth match of the series at the Old Trafford in Manchester on Wednesday.
Just eleven months back, England won the Manchester Test against South Africa to draw the three-match series by 1-1. The task is same this year as England need the win to draw the series by 2-2 for a chance to win the series at The Oval.
Last year, England won the Manchester test match against South Africa by an innings and 85 runs. Same result is unlikely this year seeing the performance of Australia and England so far.
English batsman Denis Compton holds the record for most runs at the Old Trafford with 818 runs. But, the second highest scorer at the ground is former England captain Joe Root who is in the playing squad for the fourth test. For Australia, the highest scorer at the ground is Steve Smith with 401 runs.
English bowler Alec Bedser is currently the highest wicket taker at the ground with 51 wickets followed by Stuart Broad (44 wickets) and James Anderson (37 wickets). In the current England squad, Chris Woakes is the highest wicket taker at Old Trafford with 23 wickets. For Australia, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc are the highest wicket takers in Manchester with 7 wickets each.
The ground has seen the 600-runs mark breached thrice since the inaugural match in 1884. Australia holds the record for highest total in an innings at the ground with a score of 656 runs for 8 wickets against England in 1964.
Out of the 84 tests played at the stadium, only 14 matches have been won by a team chasing the target in fourth innings. And out of those 14, ten times the winning team has been England. Highest target England chased at the ground is 294 runs against New Zealand in 2008.
Out of their 83 matches in Old Trafford, England has won 32 while losing just 15 matches. On the other hand, Australia has won just nine matches out of 31 they played at the ground. But an interesting fact is that England has not won against Australia at the Old Trafford since 1981.