Cummins faces heat as Oz wilt at Old Trafford

There are bad days, and then there's what Australia have endured on Days 2 and 3 of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford in Manchester.

- Vivek Krishnan

If Zak Crawley deflated the egos of the Australian bowlers by plundering 189 runs off 182 balls on Thursday, Jonny Bairstow toyed with them on Friday with a scintillating 81-ball unbeaten 99 that included a last-wicket stand of 66 runs with James Anderson.

The carnage across the two days helped England reach a first-innings total of 592 for a mammoth lead of 275 runs. It's the first time since the start of the 1989 Ashes that Australia have allowed England to score 500-plus at home. The previous instance, at Edgbaston in 1985, came when the Australians were reeling from the retirements of Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell and Rod a year earlier.

Inevitably, this will lead to questions about Pat Cummins's captaincy. When he was appointed Test captain in November 2021, the first specialist pacer to lead Australia in 65 years, there was unbridled excitement about what a bowling captain will bring to the table.