'Weather that's predicted might bring more out of us' - Ben Stokes feels rain forecast for fourth Test might play to England's advantage

The ongoing Ashes has been a riveting affair thus far. England and Australia have been at loggerheads throughout the English summer with the away side leading 2-1. Ben Stokes and Co. came back strongly at Headingley after losing back-to-back encounters at Edgbaston and Lord's. However, a lot of work is still left as Australia need just one draw from the remaining two games to retain the coveted Ashes urn.

The highly-anticipated fourth Test at Old Trafford, Manchester begins on Wednesday, July 19. The weather forecast isn't promising for English fans as rain is predicted throughout the five days of the encounter. The home side need a win to keep the series alive and take it into the final Test at Kennington Oval in London. Under this circumstance, England will not want rain breaks to take out time from the fourth Test.

Ben Stokes, however, feels that a shortened game might help England to push more for a win. The hosts generally bat at high run rates and strive to force results in matches at all times. Stokes reckons that with the rain forecast, his team might take their aggressive game up by a few notches.

"You never want to look too much into the weather but in the position we find ourselves in we might have to. We know we have to win this game to take it to the last game for us to have a chance of getting the urn back," Stokes was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"Going into the last game we were 2-0 down and knew we had to win that, so think that helped us a bit, and maybe again with the weather that's predicted that it might bring more out of us again knowing we might have to push the game on even more than we normally. But we'll just have to wait and see. If the weather is what it's predicted to be then we might have to."

James Anderson returns for Fourth Test

James Anderson played the first couple of Test matches in the ongoing Ashes but picked up only three wickets. He was left out of the side for the third Test but the veteran has returned to the playing XI for the upcoming Manchester Test in place of Ollie Robinson.

England's Playing XI: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jonathan Bairstow (wk), Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Stuart Broad, James Anderson