The fourth Ashes Test, which begins in Manchester on Wednesday, could well turn out to be a clash of two different styles of captaincies — Pat Cummins' old-fashioned grind versus Ben Stokes' adventurous ways.

Three Tests have already been played — Australia lead 2-1 — and one assumes the teams are well aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses. So the battle could well be fought as much in the mind as on the field of play.

So far, the decisions of the two relatively new captains in the ongoing Ashes series have given rise to intense debates.

While Stokes' call to declare early in the first innings in the opening Test was dissected by media and pundits alike, Cummins' sparse use of rookie spinner Todd Murphy in the loss at Headingley also raised eyebrows.

"I think this has been one of the most tactical series that I could remember, because of the two different styles of play, probably two contrasting styles of leadership as well," former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said in 'The ICC Review'.

"Pat (Cummins) is more of an old-fashioned sort of Test match captain where he sort of sets fields and lets plans sort of unravel and is happy to do it over a long period of time, whereas Stokes is a bit the other way. He's sort of trying to make something happen every ball and therefore sometimes plans never really have a chance to eventuate," Ponting added.

Having been elevated to Test captaincy after Tim Paine's sudden resignation ahead of the 2021 Ashes, Cummins has enjoyed a good run as the skipper.

The Australian pace spearhead began his captaincy stint winning the last Ashes series 4-0, then won against Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa. Australia also drew 1-1 with Sri Lanka away from home last year.

His only series loss came against India earlier this year before defeating the Rohit Sharma-led side in the final to lift the World Test Championship mace.

"Look, Pat is still fairly young in the job. Let's not forget that he's only been doing it for a couple of years now and I'm sure he's learning along the way," Ponting said.

"I'm not going to question Pat at all. The fact that Australia are 2-1 up says he's done a good job. There'll always be little things in a game.

"But at the end of the day, I think the tactics are better off waiting to see what the result is at the end of the series and then we'll be able to critique both captains on the result."

Written with inputs from PTI