This year's classic Ashes battle deserves to go down to a decider

The world of cricket needs England to win at Old Trafford next week. 

I say this not only as a parochial Englishman but as a lover of Test cricket. England are not the saviours of the five-day game, far from it, but everything about the 2023 Ashes proves that cricket's oldest format is alive and kicking.

Bazball is not re-defining Test cricket - there have always been aggressive players after all - but it is reigniting it by providing, willingly or not, controversy, talking points and passion while also grabbing the attention of those cricket usually finds hard to reach. 

This may well just be the impact of the Ashes, or the Ben Stokes effect, but cricket will be better off if there is an Oval decider between these two evenly-matched rivals.

The ongoing men’s and women’s Ashes series are a much-needed fillip after the deserved kicking cricket took following the ICEC’s damning report into the state of the game. Everything from sexism, racism, misogyny and elitism was laid out plain and simple, which may not come as a surprise to anyone being honest about the sport they love. 

England's current men's Test team are thrilling to watch but Australia deserve huge credit for their leading role in the series. Stokes’ side were in winning positions in the first two Tests but it was Pat Cummins and the Aussies who had the last laugh at Edgbaston and Lord’s.

These are two sides with as many, if not more, weaknesses than strengths and it is making for an unforgettable series. 

Australia’s more traditional brand of Test cricket currently has the edge over England’s 'I get knocked down but I get up again' style. And if the Chumbawamba anthem has not joined the 1990s bucket hat revival in the home dressing room then, frankly, they are missing a trick. 

From their tubthumping outlook to the enjoyment of a lager drink in the stands, it is the perfect summer tune for this group of young men (plus old-timer Jimmy Anderson).

Australia's short-ball ploy worked a treat at Lord’s against an England side too slow and stubborn to adapt, but Mark Wood led the fightback with a stunning spell of fast bowling and a game-shifting 24 off eight balls with the bat at Headingley. Such was the ferocity of the paceman it seemed to galvanise the mindset of not only the fans but his teammates too. 

More of the same is needed at Old Trafford.

England will not change much in Manchester; the calls for Ben Foakes to replace Jonny Bairstow behind the stumps have fallen on deaf ears for that is not how Stokes and Brendon McCullum go about their business. Double down, go harder, sing the songs that remind you of the good times, and the better times too. Back your men at all costs. 

Is Foakes a better keeper than Bairstow? Undoubtedly. But he does not have a series-altering, destructive knock in him that the Yorkshireman does. Bairstow has been knocked down, it is time for him to get back up again.  

One of Anderson or the quicker Josh Tongue will likely to replace Ollie Robinson, who looks ready for a rest, and a top-order reshuffle to get Harry Brook back to number five are probably the only changes England will make. 

Stokes and McCullum will no doubt be more aggressive in their quest to set up a series decider, despite what the traditionalists may want, as they attempt to become the first England side to win an Ashes contest after losing the first two matches.

Never before in my lifetime has that scenario been plausible but Stokes makes you believe it’s possible. As frustrating as England can be, that steadfast belief makes them worth putting up with. 

Win or lose the fourth Test I’ll still raise a whisky drink to them such is the enjoyment they have already brought to fans, new and old alike, this summer. 

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