Australia escape with a draw to retain the Ashes after Old Trafford washout frustrates England

No play was possible on day five of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, allowing Australia to escape with a draw and retain the Ashes.

England had momentum going into the fourth Test after their win at Headingley, and took charge with a swashbuckling display with bat and ball.

After three days of play, England were well set to secure the win and level the series - aside from a terrible weather forecast for the weekend.

Jokes about Manchester and rain are almost as old as time, but they proved prophetic this weekend.

Only 30 overs were possible on Saturday, and Australia batted well to cut their deficit to 61 runs with five wickets in hand.

Australian fans were doing rain dances on Saturday evening, England fans were refreshing weather apps hoping for a miracle.

After heavy rain overnight, the weather relented in the morning to raise hope of play.

The rain returned after the groundstaff had done a clean up, and that process was repeated early in the afternoon.

Rain continued to bucket down deep into the afternoon, and the decision to abandon play was made at 5:24 pm.

With Australia leading 2-1 in the series, the urn will return with Pat Cummins and his team irrespective of the outcome of the final Test at the Oval which starts on Thursday.

"It's really nice to retain but obviously not in the circumstances we would have liked," Cummins said. "It feels a bit weird.

“The rain might have helped us, but it was a great result."

England are sure to come hard at Australia in the final Test, and Cummins concedes they have to improve.

"It's good that we have retained but we know we have a fair bit of work to do for next week," Cummins said. "In some regards whatever happened, it would not really change how we view next week - we want to win."

Although the outcome at Old Trafford will be a bitter pill for Ben Stokes and his England team to swallow, there is plenty to play for as a win will level the series and extend Australia’s winless series run in England to 22 years.

Stokes lamented the elements, as he said: "We were completely and utterly dominant. The weather didn't help us, we can't change that.

"I can't actually look back and think we could have been better because we were pretty much perfect throughout the whole game."

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