And welcome to live coverage of day four of the fourth Ashes Test which begins with Australia four wickets down in their second innings and still 162 runs in arrears. We could safely conclude that England would wrap up victory today and earn themselves a day off to prepare for the decisive Test at the Oval on Thursday but for one small detail … the Manchester rain. Actually that’s not fair. For once the rain isn’t peculiarly Mancunian, it’s a UK-wide deluge. So the Test is in danger of suffering a washed out day, just like day three at Edgbaston in 2009, day four at the Oval in 2013 and day one at Lord’s in 2019. All three of those Tests ended in draws and this one will probably follow unless the rain relents enough today and tomorrow to afford maybe four hours’ play.

England enjoyed another feast day on Friday as the popular mood swung from castigation to triumphalism yet again. We live in a zero-hero culture, not just in sport, and strident opinions slip between the two extremes with not a single glance back over the shoulder because no one keeps the receipts … Jonny Bairstow kept the receipts which made his take-down of the press and public last night so unusual. Listen to his comments to Ian Ward or his interview on TMS with Jonathan Agnew and Michael Vaughan who seemed as rattled by his sarcasm as the Australian bowlers had been by his biffing between lunch and tea. When they tried to lighten his mood, he kept politely to his duty, refusing to play ball. Anger can be terrifying. It can also be very funny as Bairstow was last night.

Whether England are given the time to win this match or not, they seem odds on to win at the Oval. For all the critics, all the cricket fans who have been willing this to fail because the approach of Key. McCullum and Stokes is somehow improper, offends their sense of tradition and sacrifice, they may get their way and England ultimately will not regain the Ashes playing this way. They have made it clear that they will not change. And I don’t think that’s pigheaded or foolish. It’s a sense of purpose and dedication to each other and the long-term benefit of the game that is wholly admirable.