Australia digests 'hollow' ash retention in Manchester rain

SYDNEY, July 24 (Reuters): There was relief rather than celebration at the news that Australia had kept the Ashes when cricket fans Down Under woke up on Monday morning after Manchester rain saved their side in the fourth Test draw.
Australia retained the ballot box after no play was possible on day five at Old Trafford due to wet weather, leaving England trailing 2-1 in the series heading into the final Test at The Oval, which begins Thursday.
"Rarely could the ashes have been secured under more dire circumstances, with nearly two days of rain saving Australia from what seemed certain defeat," Malcolm Conn wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Despite the circumstances of the draw, Conn, like other Australian cricket scribes, was not about to let England off the hook for being in the series heading to Manchester after losing the first two Tests at Edgbaston and Lords.