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Pick of the day

We look back on the best of the action, reaction and opinion from day four at Old Trafford

Image: Michael Clarke: Is expected to declare overnight ahead of final day

After three days of near-perfect weather, a more traditional summer's day in Manchester gave England's hopes of retaining the Ashes a major boost.

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Facing the quicks

One day after he joined Hussain to give any prospective youngsters a masterclass on basic batting technique, Sky Sports expert Andrew Strauss took things up a notch on day four by demonstrating how to deal with 90mph fast bowlers. The former England captain was the logical choice to put himself in the line of fire having only retired from the game last year and showed that his timing has not eroded yet as he met a number of fearsome deliveries from the bowling machine with a straight bat. After seeing off the ultra-quick deliveries, Strauss then displayed his trademark cut shots with the speed turned down slightly.

Staying grounded

If the poor weather does materialise on Monday, it would take a heroic bowling effort from Australia - or a shambolic batting one from England - for the touring side to keep their hopes of regaining the Ashes alive. But England wicket-keeper Matt Prior, who helped extend the England innings with a battling 30 on Sunday morning, is taking nothing for granted. "Don't look too far ahead. It's a day away but it feels years away," he said. "It's another long day, another load of hard work, another load of cliches - taking one ball at a time, not getting ahead of ourselves. That's the mentality that's served us well and got us this far."

Bad light decision?

Even the vociferously pro-England crowd were miffed when play was stopped for bad light in the afternoon session. Though the floodlights were turned on at the state-of-the-art venue, umpires Tony Hill and Marais Erasmus ruled that the conditions were unsafe for pace bowling, with England skipper Alastair Cook unsurprisingly not prepared to play two spinners. "We try and play as long as we can," Hill said. "We were able to stay out a heck of a lot longer under the lights - but when we started losing it (tracking the ball) completely from square leg, we gave the skipper (Cook) the option to use spin, and he didn't want to do that."

As it happened

You can relive all the best action from day four by reading our interactive commentary from Old Trafford. You can also view a gallery of the day's best images here.

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