England and Australia played out a balanced game on the first day of the fourth Ashes 2023 match at Old Trafford in Manchester on Wednesday, July 19. Marnus Labuschagne and Mitchell Marsh were dismissed early after scoring fifties as Australia posted 299/8 in 83 overs at the end of the first day. England will feel ahead as Chris Woakes dismisses Marsh and Alex Carey In the last session and will start the second day with a confidence boost.
Australia, leading 2–1 but coming off a disappointing defeat in the previous match, again lost the toss and were forced to bat on a balanced surface at Old Trafford. Struggling David Warner starts the innings with a boundary off Stuart Broad but is dismissed by the legendary pacer Usman Khawaja Gave England a great start in the fifth over.
Warner scored 32 off 38 balls and looked in good touch to end his poor run of form. But in the 15th over, Chris Woakes dismissed him and put the visiting team under pressure. steve smith and Marnus Labuschagne stitched a 59-run third-wicket partnership to balance the game for Australia as the star pair dominated the rest of the first session.
Labushen scored his first half-century in this series but Smith was dismissed by fast bowler Mark Wood in the second session. Australia scored two more fifty-plus stands in the form of Labuschagne-Travis Head and Cameron Green-Marsh, but the English pacer kept taking timely wickets to keep the game balanced.
Marsh scored consecutive fifties, scoring 51 off 60 balls, while Head added 48 off 65 balls to maintain a healthy run rate. Woakes dominated the final session with big wickets of Green and Marsh in single overs and ended the day with the wicket of Carey. But Australia reached 299/8 as Michael Starc added 23* off 70 to deny England a full celebration.
Meanwhile, with Head’s wicket, Broad completed 600 Test wickets and also broke Ian Botham’s famous record of 149 wickets against Australia for the most in Tests.