Zak Crawley's brutal act as 26-year Ashes first rocks Aussie side

England opener Zak Crawley has boldly declared the home side wants to only bat once in the fourth Ashes Test, after clubbing 189 runs from just 182 balls to hand England a first innings lead. Australia still have a power of work to do in the field, with England leading by 67 runs at 4/384.

A potential injury to Mitchell Starc has only made matters worse for the Aussies, who will be desperate to fend off England levelling the Ashes series at 2-2. Even with Starc, who had Crawley's fellow opener Ben Duckett out for just nine early in the England innings, the Aussies were facing an uphill battle.

TENSE: Labuschagne hits back after Waugh rips Aussie Ashes 'mistake'

AWFUL READING: David Warner makes brutal slice of unwanted history

Weather conditions do not look to be in Australia's favour either, with the BBC reporting Saturday's play could potentially be washed out. Harry Brook and skipper Ben Stokes are at the crease for England ahead of day three.

Crawley, after weeks of debates about 'Bazball', provided the best example of the gameplan all series, with the Aussies unable to find an answer to his swashbuckling antics until he was eventually bowled by Cam Green. He said England were well placed to put enormous pressure on Australia's somewhat volatile batting lineup, especially after cracking the highest score for an English batter at home in 26 years.

"Anything can happen with [Ben] Stokes," Crawley said. "While we have two very good players at the crease and Jonny [Bairstow] still to come, plus a strong tail, I think the gameplan will be to bat well tomorrow and bat once.

"Maybe if we lose a couple of early wickets tomorrow that changes but we'd like a big lead and bowl them out and not have to bat again. That would be ideal and we are not expecting that... we are expecting them to bat well."

Zak Crawley's monster innings further exposes missed Aussie chances

While it was Crawley's eye-popping innings that proved the standout, the Aussies had plenty of problems elsewhere. Two missed chances to dismiss Moeen Ali (54) burned them badly, while Joe Root added 84 from 95 deliveries as England picked up the pace at Old Trafford.

Crawley added to the BBC that their first innings lead, currently 67 runs, was of key importance. The Aussies will be rueing missed opportunities in their first innings, in which much of the top and middle order made strong starts they were unable to go on with.

"We'll just keep trying to score quickly. It will be nice bowling last," Crawley said. "I think the pitch will start playing tricks so the bigger lead we can get, the better.

"I was just trying to play my natural game. I like to be positive against them. I've scored quicker in this series than against most and I think that's just the quality of their bowlers, I don't want to sit there for too long because there's a good ball in there.

"I batted well at times and scored really quickly in certain patches, then tried to absorb and get a few singles in others. We haven't really focused too much on the weather, we're just controlling what we can control. If that comes, we'll worry about that later in the game."

Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.