England and Australia played out a balanced game on Day 1 of the fourth Ashes 2023 match at Manchester’s Old Trafford on Wednesday, July 19. Marnus Labuschagne and Mitchell Marsh were dismissed quickly after scoring fifties as Australia put 299/8 in 83 overs at the end of Day 1. England will feel ahead as Chris Woakes dismissed Marsh and Alex Carey in the last session and will start Day 2 with boosting confidence.
Australia, with a 2-1 lead but a disappointing loss in the last match, lost the toss again and were forced to bat at Old Trafford’s balanced surface. Struggling David Warner started the innings by smashing Stuart Broad for a four but the legendary pacer dismissed Usman Khawaja in the fifth over to give England a promising start.
Warner scored 32 off 38 and seemed in a good rhythm to end his poor form finally. But Chris Woakes removed him in the 15th over to put the traveling side under pressure. Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne added a 59-run stand for the third wicket to balance the game for Australia as the star duo dominated the remaining first session.
Labuschagne registered his first fifty in this series but Smith was dismissed by speedster Mark Wood in the second session. Australia produced two more fifty-plus stands, Labuschagne-Travis Head, and Cameron Green-Marsh, but English pacers kept taking timely wickets to keep the game balanced.
Marsh recorded back-to-back fifties, 51 off just 60, while Head added 48 off 65 to keep a healthy run rate. Woakes dominated the last session with Green and Marsh’s big wickets in a single over and ended the day with Carey’s wicket as well. But Australia reached 299/8 as Micthell Starc added 23* off 70 to deny England full celebration.
Meanwhile, Broad completed 600 Test wickets with Head’s wicket and also broke Ian Botham’s famous record of most wickets against Australia in Tests, 149 wickets.