Zak Crawley's 189 helps England take charge of fourth Ashes Test against Australia at Old Trafford

England seized control of the fourth Test against Australia with a swashbuckling display with the bat at Old Trafford.

Mindful of a poor weather forecast at the weekend potentially eating into the scheduled five days of play, Bazball went into overdrive as Australia’s bowlers were put to the sword.

England polished off the Australian tail early on day two, bowling the tourists out for 317, and Zak Crawley and Joe Root propelled England towards an imposing 384 for 4 at stumps - a lead of 67.

After going wicketless on the opening day, James Anderson took one ball to right that wrong when Pat Cummins (1) chipped a drive to England captain Ben Stokes in the covers.

Mitchell Starc (36 no) took Australia past 300, but he was left stranded as Josh Haazelwood (4) was pouched in the slips by Ben Duckett to hand Chris Woakes his fifth wicket of the innings as the visitors were bowled out for 317.

England lost Duckett (1) early on, with Starc finding his outside edge, but it did not stop the momentum.

Crawley and Moeen Ali put on 121 for the second wicket, with the latter making a half century before falling to an excellent catch from Usman Khawaja off the bowling of Starc.

Root joined Crawley at the crease and the scoring rate increased, with England seemingly playing with an eye on what is a foul weather forecast at the weekend.

Crawley stepped on the gas and brought up his first Ashes century, and second-fastest ton in Test cricket at Old Trafford, when cutting Cummins away over the covers.

England piled on 178 runs in 25 overs between lunch and tea to seize the initiative.

With no Nathan Lyon to turn to, Cummins found it impossible to stem the tide.

Crawley took England into the lead when lofting Mitchell Marsh over long-on for six in utterly disdainful fashion.

He eventually fell for a magnificent 189 off 182 balls, chopping on to Cameron Green. The sight of a raft of Australian players shaking Crawley’s hand on his way off the Old Trafford turf spoke volumes about the quality of the innings.

Root fell for 84, losing his off stump to one that kept extremely low off Josh Hazlewood. Root looked decidedly unimpressed as he trudged off, but a ball shooting along the deck on the second day would have pleased England's bowlers.

The departures of Crawley and Root slowed the scoring rate, as Harry Brook and Stokes took time to adapt to the conditions as the pitch began to offer variable bounce, but they finished the day with a 67-run lead and England skipper Stokes will almost certainly be mulling a declaration at some stage on Friday to get ahead of the weather.

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