ASHES NOTEBOOK: Marnus Labuschagne’s idiosyncrasies hit new heights, Sky send a team to the Open and northern mayors demand an Ashes Test in the next series

England are in firm control of the fourth Ashes Test after dominating day three of the game at Old Trafford.

Jonny Bairstow hit an unbeaten 99 before Mark Wood struck with three wickets to leave England six wickets away from levelling the series.

Rain is the only hope for Australia, who were poor again throughout the third day, with the forecast not looking too positive for England over the weekend. 

Nonetheless, in such a strong position, it’s likely Ben Stokes‘ side will only need a few more sessions to secure victory.

Here, Mail Sport’s Richard Gibson takes you through some of the stories you might have missed from a thrilling third day of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford.

Marnus Labuschagne made his first half-century of the series after changing the colour of his bat grip again

The Australia No 3 sported a green bat grip after going through pink and white this series

SHADES OF MARNUS’S BATTING

Marnus Labuschagne’s idiosyncrasies appear to have gone to another level this Ashes, with Australia’s No 3 regularly changing the colour of his grips on his Kookaburra Ghost Pro bats.

Labuschagne had revealed superstitious tendencies on a journey to becoming the world’s No 1 Test batter — a title he held at the start of this series but has since lost due to a struggle for runs.

The 29-year-old has flicked through the colour chart in a bid to change his fortunes.

He began with a salmon pink grip in the first innings at Edgbaston, reverted to white for the second, went back to the pink during scores of 47 and 30 at Lord’s, went white and then black for the two Headingley innings and has sported a green handle here, where he made his first half-century of the series.

THE WRIGHT ROLE

ECB men’s selector Luke Wright will have his role redefined, allowing him to take on coaching responsibilities with England Lions this winter. 

Wright, 38, was chosen for the reintroduced position last November, but has pushed for it to be modernised so he can develop a different kind of relationship with the players to the ones formed by predecessors such as Ed Smith, Geoff Miller and David Graveney.

Wright, who has worked as a coach with Auckland and Melbourne Stars, is set to be involved with a Lions training camp in the UAE.

England men’s selector Luke Wright (left) will have his role defined to allow him to coach the England Lions this winter

The former Sussex batter has pushed for the role to be modernised to allow for different responsibilities

TEEING OFF

Saturday’s horrendous weather forecast has encouraged Sky Sports to send two of its cricket team — Ricky Ponting and Mark Butcher — to the Open for a golf feature.

The pair will take part in a driving challenge at Hoylake this morning using Sky’s range technology.

Meanwhile, another Sky pundit, Gary Neville, was among the sell-out crowd here in Manchester yesterday.

MAYORS DEMAND NORTHERN TEST

The mayors of Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire have urged the ECB to change the 2027 men’s Ashes schedule and allocate one of the five Tests to a northern ground.

England captain Ben Stokes said this week that he is ‘devastated’ there will be no match against Australia north of Nottingham in four years’ time.

Ben Stokes has spoken of his disappointment that the north has not been handed an Ashes Test in 2027

And in a joint letter to ECB chair Richard Thompson criticising the southern bias, Andy Burnham and Tracy Brabin wrote: ‘Headingley and Old Trafford are two of England’s most iconic cricket grounds, and home to historic Ashes moments. Very few grounds attract support as passionate or indeed as diverse.’

GATTING GETS ANOTHER GO 

Mike Gatting fared much better against Shane Warne’s ball of the century 30 years on. 

He survived six replica deliveries on a simulator, raising £9,000 to improve club net facilities around the country in the process.