Brad Hogg claims fourth Ashes Test should ‘have had a reserve day’ after downpours washed out the final two days of play at Old Trafford

Former Australia international Brad Hogg believes a reserve day should have been in place for the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford, after rain deprived England of the chance to square the series.

The hosts looked poised to level the series at 2-2 to set up a mouthwatering decider at The Oval later this week, only to be denied by the weather.

England needed six wickets to win across the final two days, but could only get through 30 overs as five of the last six sessions in the match were lost without a single ball bowled.

The draw means Australia retained the Ashes and will head to The Oval looking to win the urn in England for the first time since 2001.

Hogg, however, suggested the outcome in Manchester was a ‘missed opportunity’ and that contingency plans should have been put in place.  

Five of the final six sessions at Old Trafford were washed out because of rain 

Brad Hogg (left) believes the fourth Test should have had a reserve  day

‘You can have a reserve day,’ he told talkSPORT on Monday.

‘I think they should have said, “There’s a chance of rain here at Old Trafford. A huge chance [of rain], so we may put a rest day here and push the next Test match another day later.” 

‘We want to make sure we’re going into the final Test match with an opportunity of both teams being 2-2 and we want that highlight going into the last Test match.

‘And now we have just missed that opportunity.’ 

England restricted Australia to 317 in their first innings before racking up 592 as Zak Crawley made an outstanding 189 and Jonny Bairstow piled up an unbeaten 99.

Mark Wood then took three-for-17 as Australia lost four wickets on Day 3, before Marnu Labuschagne and Mitchell Marsh put together a 103-run stand during the 30 overs bowled on Saturday.

When Labuschagne was eventually caught behind off the bowling of Joe Root, England were five wickets away from levelling the series before the rain intervened.

England captain Ben Stokes doesn’t expect reserve days to ever feature in an Ashes series

Old Trafford has now had 25 complete days rained off in Test cricket

Manchester is notorious for weather delays, and Old Trafford has now had 25 complete days rained off in Test cricket, plus an additional two entire Tests abandoned. 

But England captain Ben Stokes insisted the debate over reserve days being implemented in Ashes series was a moot point. 

‘Test cricket is five days. I don’t ever see there being a reserve day in a series like this,’ he said. 

‘This is the way it’s always been. We know we can’t get the urn back but we can draw the series and that’s what we’ll be trying to do.’