Ben Stokes’ side ended day three in a position of total dominance with Australia 113-4 in their second innings, still 162 runs away from making England bat again.

But as forecast, the first session on day four was a washout with the threat of rain looming over the remainder of the day.

To make matters worse, the forecast for Sunday (day five) significantly worsened on Saturday morning, with several forecasts indicating that the weather on Sunday may be even worse than what has been seen on Saturday.

The Met Office issued a Yellow Warning for rain, predicting sustained rainfall in Manchester throughout Sunday with at least a 50 per cent chance of rain throughout the day. BBC Weather was even bleaker, predicting at least a 70 per cent chance of rain across the entirety of Sunday.

AccuWeather offers a slightly more optimistic picture, predicting between a 49 and 67 per cent chance of rain all day.

At the time of writing, play is scheduled to resume at 2:45pm local time, with the day able to go on until 7:30pm. In the unlikely scenario where there is no more rain on Saturday, there can be up to 59 overs bowled on day four.

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A draw at Emirates Old Trafford would result in Australia retaining the Ashes, prolonging the gap since England’s last Ashes triumph to at least a decade. Australia won the first two Tests of the series at Edgbaston and Lord’s, both by close margins, before England halved the deficit with a three-wicket victory of their own at Headingley.

The fifth Test of the series begins on Thursday at the Kia Oval.