No spinner included as Australia name playing XI for 4th Ashes 2023 test vs England

Australia are currently leading the Ashes 2023 series 2-1 in their favour.

Cricket Australia, on July 18, 2023, has announced the Australia playing XI for the upcoming 4th Test match of Ashes 2023 series which will be played at Old Trafford in Manchester from July 19 onwards.

Australia are currently 2-1 up in the series after winning the first 2 Tests of the series, while England made a good comeback in Headingley, winning by 3 wickets to stay alive in the series. Australia will take heart from the fact that England have never defeated them in Manchester since 1981.

Meanwhile, Australia have opted for a full-pace attack and included Cameron Green and Josh Hazlewood in the XI to partner Mitchell Starc and captain Pat Cummins in Manchester. This means Australia will go into a Test without a frontline spinner for the first time in more than 10 years after Todd Murphy was omitted.

Scott Boland made way for Hazlewood, while some tweaks were required in the batting order to fit in Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green.

This will give Australia a very lengthy batting order with Green, fit again after missing the Leeds Test with a hamstring injury, has been listed to bat at seven, behind Mitch Marsh at No.6, with wicket-keeper Alex Carey to come in at No.8.

A soggy lead-in to the Manchester Test did not help Murphy's cause, with Australia consigned to the indoor nets on match eve amid more showers on Tuesday.

"We are really excited by Todd, think he's fantastic. Would have loved to use him a bit more last week, think conditions just favored pace bowling. We played a Test in Hobart last year in the Ashes where Nath didn't bowl an over.

It's all conditions based, we are really excited by Todd, we think he's a gun, we love having him around, he's got a big future. It was more conditions or the way I used him, as opposed to how he bowled,” Pat Cummins told cricket.com.au.

The last time Australia played without an off-spinner was against India in Perth in 2011-12.

David Warner retains his place in the Australia XI

Another significant thing was that left-handed opener David Warner has managed to hold onto his spot in the XI despite being dismissed for single figures in both innings by his nemesis Stuart Broad in the third Test.

He only has 141 runs in 3 Tests with one half-century and an average of 23.50. But Pat Cummins backed the veteran opener to come good.

He said: "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.”

Australia XI for Manchester test:

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