Fate of Ashes rests with Australia's allrounders

It would have been difficult to script a better entrance than the one Cameron Green made as he strode down the stairs from the changerooms to the middle of Old Trafford to join Mitch Marsh on Saturday. 

With Joe Root's name being sung by a Manchester crowd whose spirits had been lifted by the prospect of an England victory under gloomy clouds, a referendum on the allrounders' selection alongside one another was essentially underway.

On the two previous days, Pat Cummins must have wished for the variety of a specialist spinner as England rattled along at five-and-a-half an over.

Instead, in the absence of Nathan Lyon, Australia had gone for the combination of the two Western Australians to buttress their lower-order and supplement their pace attack.

Their combined first-innings contributions had been 36 runs with the bat, 2-121 from 24.4 overs with the ball and a mystery injury to Marsh that, after returning to the field having spent the first 75 minutes of day three off it, forced Green, the world's best gully catcher, to be stationed elsewhere to ensure Marsh's bursts of running were limited.

It was a cruel irony that Green was then summoned to the crease by a spinner dismissing Marnus Labuschagne, Australia's leading batter in this Test, for the fourth time in a row.

That the fate of the Ashes are now in the oversized hands of Green and Marsh, whose respective futures in this team are at an intriguing juncture, is fitting.

For Marsh, unbeaten at stumps on day four on 31no alongside Green (3no), a legitimate second coming as a Test player looks certain.

From being the last man selected for this Ashes tour, having half-jokingly labelled the trip as a "UK holiday" as Green's understudy, the 31-year-old now shapes as one of Australia's most indispensable players for the final day of this Test, the ensuing Ashes series finale at The Oval (fitness pending), and beyond.

In four innings since coming in after Green missed the Headingley Test with a hamstring injury, Marsh has scored 228 runs at 76, a significantly better return than Green's 103 runs at 20.60.

Marsh also pitched in with the wicket of Zac Crawley, currently the series' leading run scorer, in both innings of the third Test, before puzzlingly not being asked to bowl at him again until he had reached 112 in this ongoing match.

Green has struggled for fluency with the bat, while he has been asked to perform a physically demanding role for many of his spells with the ball, with Cummins eager to utilise his almost two-metre frame for long periods of bowling short.

Both came into the Ashes off the back of full Indian Premier League campaigns, but the extra experience Marsh has had in dealing with the switch in formats and the added pressure of an Ashes series has clearly been a benefit for the older allrounder.

What seems uncertain, given Australia's struggles without a spinner in this fourth Test, is whether there will be room for both in a Test XI ever again.

Labuschagne, whose 103-run stand with Marsh in Australia's second innings has been vital to a grim defiance they hope will be enough to force this Test into a stalemate, suggested his teammate's strong limited-overs form has been a factor in his Test resurgence.

"Seeing him bat, even in the one-dayers, and seeing him bat in the nets, and the confidence he has in his game at the moment, I definitely had no doubt when he came in (to the Test side) the way he was going to play," Labuschagne told reporters at stumps after scoring his first Ashes ton abroad.

"The confidence he has in his own game … He's got so much trust in the way he's playing. When it is like that, it makes you a dangerous player."

Australia have denied that playing for a draw, which will ensure the urn remains in their possession, was a factor in the pair's selection for this match.

Given the draw is now their best-case scenario, with Labuschagne openly laughing at a suggestion at his press conference on Saturday that his side could pursue a victory from their current position, the Ashes tourists will not be upset they opted for the deeper batting over Murphy's spin as it currently stands.

At it was, the Green-Marsh union aptly got underway with England bowling off-spin from both ends.

It was a ploy Ben Stokes had no choice but to turn to after umpires told him that the deterioration of natural light had made bowling their pacemen too dangerous a prospect.

Given the choice between facing Mark Wood with a Dukes ball that had just been changed over after the old one was bounced out of shape, or the off-breaks of Moeen Ali and Joe Root, it was obvious what Australia would have picked.

Yet Root had twice found the outside edge of Labuschagne and Green's exit to the part-timer at Lord's last month to a horror shot was no doubt still fresh in his memory.

As a succession of plays-and-misses, false shots, balls turning out of the rough and a tough dropped chance from Harry Brook off Marsh ensued in a tense period before the scheduled tea break, the towering pair might have briefly wished for the return of Wood.

An unsuccessful England review for a bat-pad catch off Green proved the final act of the day, with Labuschagne suggesting the stage is now set for Australia's new No.7 to deliver.

"I've seen Greeny play some unbelievable knocks," said the Queenslander. "He's got two double centuries against us (in the Sheffield Shield) at the Gabba, we just couldn't get him out, we literally tried everything under the sun.

"He's got a formula, he sticks to his method, where Mitch is a bit more (of a) fluent and aggressive, flowing player at the start of his innings.

"Cameron's probably more of a steady-build type of (player).

"He's still young, he's still learning his trade. This is his first time in these conditions. With the IPL there wasn't heaps of time to adjust but I think he's doing a good job.

"Tomorrow is going to be the perfect scenario for him."

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 43 runs

Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood