Played around 11 months ago, the last Manchester Test match had witnessed England registering an innings victory to draw level a three-match series 1-1 with a match to be played. Slated to play another Manchester Test from tomorrow, England require another win to draw level a five-match series 2-2 with a match to be played.
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The margin of victory, however, won’t matter much. Taking into consideration how Ashes 2023 matches have absolutely gone down to the wire, one doesn’t expect any team to win by an innings this week.
Having participated in 82 out of their 83 Tests played at the Old Trafford till now, England’s formidable record sees them winning 32 and losing 15 times since the inaugural match way back in 1884.
Having won nine and lost seven matches across 31 attempts, readers must note that even Australia have a praiseworthy record here for an overseas team. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that England haven’t defeated Australia at this ground since 1981 with the visitors winning four out of seven matches in this period.
Emirates Old Trafford Manchester Test Records
Highest run-scorers in Tests played at this stadium are Denis Compton (818), Joe Root (790), Michael Atherton (729), Alec Stewart (704) and Len Hutton (701). Apart from former England captain Root, other active top-performing batters with respect to this venue are Ben Stokes (528), Steven Smith (401), Jos Buttler (365), Jonny Bairstow (280) and Rory Burns (257).
Highest wicket-takers in Tests played at the Old Trafford are Alec Bedser (51), Stuart Broad (44), James Anderson (37), Jim Laker (27) and Monty Panesar (25). Other than the legendary duo of Broad and Anderson, Chris Woakes (23), Moeen Ali (16) and Stokes (11) are the other members of the current English squad to have done well here as bowlers.
As far as the current Australian bowlers are concerned, Pat Cummins (7), Mitchell Starc (7) and Josh Hazlewood (6) have all picked less than 10 Test wickets at this ground.
Highest Test Innings Totals At Old Trafford
| Score | Overs | Team | Opposition | Year |
| 656/8d | 255.5 | Australia | England | 1964 |
| 627/9d | 201 | England | Australia | 1934 |
| 611 | 293.1 | England | Australia | 1964 |
| 589/8d | 152.2 | England | Pakistan | 2016 |
| 571/8d | 142 | England | India | 1936 |
Interestingly, the 600-run mark has only been touched thrice across as many as 289 innings in Manchester Tests. Additionally, only 14 matches here have been won by teams chasing a target in the fourth innings.
England, who’ve emerged as the victorious team 10 times out of these 14 occasions, hold the record for the highest successful run-chase in Tests played at the Old Trafford for sealing a 294-run chase against New Zealand one-and-a-half-decades ago.
