Australia have announced their playing eleven for the fourth Test of the Ashes 2023 on Tuesday. Interestingly, Pat Cummins-led side are going into the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Manchester without a spinner in the lineup. England have already announced their lineup with James Anderson making a comeback in the playing eleven in place of pacer Ollie Robinson.


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The fourth Test, which starts on July 19 in Manchester, will feature the same top five players from the previous match, informed Australia skipper Pat Cummins. In the first two Tests against England at Edgbaston and Lord's, respectively, Hazlewood claimed three and five wickets.


After being bowled for just one run in each of his two innings during the third Test by his adversary Stuart Broad, David Warner has been kept in the lineup.


"Davey didn't have his best game last week at Headingley, but prior to that, he has looked really good. He has had three 50-run (opening) partnerships, which can be rare over in England," Cummins added.


Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Josh Hazlewood.



'Cummins more of old fashioned Test captain, Stokes tries to make something happen every ball'


The legendary Ricky Ponting feels Australian skipper Pat Cummins is more of an old fashioned Test captain, who lets "plans unravel" while his English counter part Ben Stokes tries to make something happen every ball.


The decisions of the two relatively new captains in the ongoing Ashes series have given rise to intense debates. While Stokes' call to declare early in the first innings in the opening Test was dissected by media and pundits alike, Cummins' sparse use of rookie spinner Todd Murphy in the loss at Headingley also raised eyebrows.


"I think this has been one of the most tactical series that I could remember, because of the two different styles of play, probably two contrasting styles of leadership as well," Ponting said 'The ICC Review'.


"Pat (Cummins) is more of an old-fashioned sort of Test match captain where he sort of lets sets fields and lets plans sort of unravel and is happy to do it over a long period of time, whereas Stokes is a bit the other way.


"He's sort of trying to make something happen every ball and therefore sometimes plans never really have a chance to eventuate," Ponting added.


Having been elevated to Test captain after Tim Paine's sudden resignation ahead of the 2021 Ashes, Cummins has enjoyed a good run as the skipper.


The Australian pace spearhead began his captaincy stint winning the last Ashes series 4-0, then won against Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa. Australia also drew 1-1 with Sri Lanka away from home last year. (Ashes 2023: 'This Guy Ran Out Muralitharan', Australia Legends Calls Out McCullum For 'Hypocrisy')


His only series loss came against India earlier this year before defeating the Rohit Sharma led side in the final to lift the World Test Championship mace.


"Look, Pat is still fairly young in the job. Let's not forget that he's only been doing it for a couple of years now and I'm sure he's learning along the way," Ponting said.


Australia lead the series 2-1 heading into the fourth Test starting in Manchester on Wednesday.


"I'm not going to question Pat at all. The fact that Australia are 2-1 up says he's done a good job to me. There'll always be little things in a game. When you lose, there are always little things in a game that people are happy to talk about. But at the end of the day, I think the tactics are better off waiting to see what the result is at the end of the series and then we'll be able to critique both captains on the result." (With PTI inputs)