Ashes 2023: Pat Cummins backs under-fire David Warner for 4th Ashes Test: He has shown a lot of good signs

Australian skipper Pat Cummins has put his weight behind under-fire David Warner for the fourth Ashes Test match against England. David Warner could only return with scores of 1 and 4 in the third Test match and thus his place had come under scrutiny.

However, Australia have retained Warner in their playing XI for the fourth Test match. Warner has continuously been troubled by England’s veteran fast bowler Stuart Broad, who has now dismissed the left-hander on 17 occasions.

Warner has amassed 141 runs in three Test matches at an average of 23.50 in the ongoing Ashes against England and he will look to turn the tables in the fourth Test match.

“I think Warner has been going really well. I thought at Lord’s, he was really impressive. Last week, like many of us, he probably didn’t contribute as much as he would have liked with the bat,” Cummins said.

“He’s been out there over the last couple of days putting in a lot of work, but I think on this tour he has shown a lot of good signs and hasn’t quite kicked on to make that big score. Some of those innings he’s played under really tough circumstances have made it easy for (Steven) Smith to come in and score runs, or the like,” Cummins was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

“We’ll chat about it (opening combinations) but I imagine it will stay the same,” he added.

On the other hand, Australia has decided to play both all-rounders – Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh and they have decided to drop Todd Murphy for the fourth Test. The off-spinner bowled a handful of overs at Headingley and he was taken apart by England skipper Ben Stokes.

“Every situation is different. We’ve played games with one quick; we’ve played some games with heaps of quicks. It’s all really conditions based. As I said last week about Toddy, I would have loved to bowl him a bit more but there wasn’t a heap of overs in the game, the ball seemed to swing and seam a little bit, so that’s certainly something to weigh up this week,” Cummins said.

The fourth Ashes Test will be played at Old Trafford from 19th July onwards.