London, Jul 31 (IANS): Former England captain Nasser Hussain has stated that the hosts are "slight favourites" to win the fifth and decisive Ashes 2023 Test against Australia as the pitch will offer a turn on Day 5 at The Oval which will aid Ben Stokes' side to level the series 2-2.
The lashing rain in London on Sunday forced the umpires to call stumps early on Day 4, with Australia closing the day four on 135 for no loss, still 249 runs away from taking the Ashes 3-1 and England needing 10 wickets to level the series.
"My feeling is that England are still slight favourites, even after Australia's start. The pitch is spinning and a day-five Oval pitch does turn," Hussain told Sky Sports.
He further added the rain has provided Moeen Ali with some additional time to recover from his groin strain, indicating that off-spinner's recovery might play a crucial role on the last day of a series.
"Hopefully the rain has given Moeen Ali a bit more time to get better from that groin strain and Joe Root is a very useful off-spinner," said Hussain.
"Australia have two left-handers in at the moment and then Alex Carey, Travis Head and Mitchell Starc. Off-spinners like left-handers. "It is set up perfectly. The last day of a magnificent series and we still don't know if it is going to be 2-1, 2-2 or 3-1," he added.
The 55-year-old also also raised concerns about the decision to hold back Mark Wood from joining the bowling attack until the 33rd over, by which time Australia were 99-0.
"I think Stokes could have gone earlier with Wood because of what was coming -- the rain was coming and when the rain comes the reverse disappears. Also, just to get the crowd up. They were up this morning with the Stuart Broad factor but with the Khawaja-Warner partnership they died and got low.
The moment Wood started warming up you could sense the crowd go, 'this is what we have been waiting for'," the former skipper said.
After bowling England out inside the first two overs of the day, Australia's openers Usman Khawaja (69) and David Warner (58) laid a solid foundation for the big chase of 384 runs with an unbeaten 135-run stand before rain halted play when players took off drinks break in the second session.