England down and out after Head century crushes all hopes of Ashes miracle

Australia gave England a valuable lesson in how to turn an advantage into an unassailable position as they strengthened their hold on the third Test and the Ashes.

Ben Stokes does not like the word “ruthless” and it is banned in the England dressing room. He bridles when he is asked about it because he says it is something viewed in retrospect and his team goes out to win every game.

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You can understand where he is coming from, but it is also a compliment to be described as ruthless because it is associated with winning sides, which is surely what England aspire to be.

Except when they had their chance in Perth to do just that they blew it and have never recovered. Australia, by contrast, showed their ruthless side at the Adelaide Oval as Travis Head’s unbeaten hundred thrilled his home crowd of more than 50,000, most of whom revelled in England being flayed in the final session.

Comparisons can be unfair but are unavoidable in an Ashes series with so much at stake, collectively and for individuals. England supporters can only hope their team learns from this one.

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At lunch on day three in Adelaide, Australia were 102 ahead with nine wickets in hand. Think back to Perth a month ago when England were 59 for one in their second innings, with a 99-run lead over Australia at lunch on day two.

How did Australia handle their chance to bat an opponent out of a Test match? They extended their lead to 356 and were 271 for four at the close. What did England do in Perth? They froze and lost nine for 99 in a session, a series-wrecking setback. The day ended with England beaten by eight wickets.

Australia’s relentless pursuit of winning has left England already requiring a record Adelaide Oval fourth-innings run chase to win and their opponents look hungry to add plenty more to the target. The other alternative is the Bazballers develop an appetite for blocking – for at least four sessions – to rescue a draw.

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You can tell it has been a bad day when the team’s put-upon media manager, desperate to find someone to spin a negative into a positive, asks a coach to face the press. For the third day in a row, a member of the England backroom team spoke. After David Saker [bowling coach] on day one, and Marcus Trescothick [batting] on day two, it was the turn of Jeetan Patel [spin bowling]. He has predicted crazy comebacks by England before and been proved right. “It’s time for some magic,” he said. This would be the most fantastical of all.

No bowler was totally eviscerated, but then again Australia did not need to swing for the hills; steady accumulation would do the job and they knew their opponents would quickly run out of ideas. Australia bided their time before adding 152 in 35 overs after tea, Head and Alex Carey putting on an unbeaten 122.

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England fed Head’s cut shot as if they had failed to watch their opponents bowl on day two, and Stokes was powerless to make something happen. He has been a tactical master as captain, but not in Australia. It seems as if his imagination has been stymied by the pressure.

There were times when Stokes shook his head as a paceman bowled short or leg side, or when Will Jacks tossed in a long-hop. The Ashes series has brought out an edgier side to the England captain. His players have talked about his empathy in the past, now he looks ready to blow and is working out who survives the post-Ashes cull.

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Stokes did his best to hold Australia up, his 83 during a 106-run stand for the ninth wicket with Jofra Archer eating into the inevitable first-innings deficit. For the second match in a row Stokes recorded his slowest Test fifty, this time from 159 balls, but just as he looked ready to move up the gears he was bowled by Mitchell Starc with a fresh, second new ball. Soon after, Archer edged to slip after scoring his maiden Test fifty.

The deficit was 85, and it could have been much worse. The stand between Stokes and Archer showed up the performances on day two and proved the pitch was still a dream to bat on. Archer can also now tell Ollie Pope what it feels like to score a fifty in an Ashes Test.

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The third innings in this situation can be hideous for bowling teams and England had to face it without Stokes, who did not bowl. England said he was tired and preserving his body. We shall see.

Instead, the responsibility was passed on to others and apart from Archer, who was treated with kid gloves again, conceding runs at 1.5 an over, they were dealt with fairly straightforwardly, unable to really build pressure for long enough.

Brydon Carse was fuller than on a wasteful first day, but that is not saying much, while Josh Tongue bowled better than two for 59 suggests, but someone had to run through Australia. Instead, they hit a brick wall.

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Jacks was eased around at 5.47 an over, bowled the odd ripper that turned past a left-hander’s outside edge but was inconsistent and could not keep the scoring down. Half of his overs in the match have cost six or more runs, and according to data analysts CricViz just 48 per cent of his balls were dots, the lowest for an English spinner who has bowled 20 or more overs in a match. Then again, what can you expect from him, promoted as No 1 spinner in an Ashes series with no track record in red-ball cricket.

Carse enjoyed an early breakthrough, Jake Weatherald lbw failing to review a delivery that pitched outside leg stump. Marnus Labuschagne was worked over by Tongue, who probed away and squared him up, Brook taking a low catch at slip.

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Usman Khawaja gave it away, edging a cut from a Jacks wide ball behind and Cameron Green’s batting is in a real mess: he nicked off edging a wide drive.

Head played beautifully, and worked his way to a fourth hundred in four Adelaide Tests. He was dropped on 99 off Archer by Brook at gully, which if it had been held would have been the biggest party-pooper of the Christmas season.

Instead, Head slapped Joe Root down the ground in the next over for his century and with fellow South Australian and first-innings century maker Carey at the other end, the crowd had their moment.

07:40am

Slipping away

07:23am

Sir Geoffrey Boycott’s verdict

07:18am

England reaction

For the third day in a row, England have put up one of the backroom staff for their media duties. Today it’s the spin-bowling coach Jeetan Patel.

It’s been a tough day. We started with such optimism, with the partnership between Stokesy and Jof – what Jof did was fantastic. Losing Stokesy when we did was pretty tough.

[On why Ben Stokes didn’t bowl] He’s okay from what we understand; we don’t really know just yet. He’s the sort of guy who leaves everything out there and what he’s done so far may have taken its toll. We’ll see how he pulls up tomorrow.

[Does the team still believe they can win?] Look, that’s how we operate. We don’t look at the other results, we look at what’s in front of us – we need to get some wickets in the morning, put pressure back on Australia and throw some punches.

[What can you chase?] Ah, I don’t know what the magic number is!

[On Will Jacks’ performance with the ball] I don’t think he’s bowled overly poorly. He may have been a little bit short or a little bit straight every now and then. The way they’ve played him has been fantastic, particularly Alex Carey in the first innings. I think he’s bowled okay. Going forward we’ll have to keep finding ways for him to get better.

07:03am

OVER 66: AUS 271/4 (Head 142 Carey 52)

Stumps One last boundary for Head, driven through extra cover off Jacks. Duckett tried to save the boundary but was touching the sponge as he stopped the ball.

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That’s the end of another bruising day for England. They fought hard but were too far behind in the game going into day three, and Travis Head curbed English enthusiasm with a ruthless 142 not out. Australia will resume tomorrow with a lead of 356 and six second-innings wickets. Only the apocalypse can save England.

06:59am

Head and Carey toying with England

At this rate you would bet on day four Australian declaration at roughly 450-500 ahead. Travis Head and Alex Carey, the two South Australian heroes, are toying with the occasional off-spinners, who appear not to have a clue how to prise them out. For all the talk of this England team needing to play more games against state opposition Down Under, how many would they actually win?

06:58am

OVER 65: AUS 266/4 (Head 138 Carey 51)

Tongue hustles through the penultimate over of the day, his pace still close to 90mph. Carey steals a single to mid-off to keep strike.

06:55am

OVER 64: AUS 265/4 (Head 138 Carey 50)

Carey breezes to another fifty, this time from 84 balls, with a single off Jacks. No Australian wicketkeeper has scored two centures in a single Test; don’t be surprised if Carey makes history in the morning session tomorrow. He looks so secure at the crease, as he has for the past two years.

06:50am

OVER 63: AUS 256/4 (Head 136 Carey 43)

Jacks saves two runs with a good sliding stop on the boundary. England have entered a world of pain, in which they have to endure the slow death of a dream that has sustained them for almost four years. They can’t throw the towel in, they can’t take a dive; they have to let the misery play out over the next day or two.

06:44am

OVER 62: AUS 251/4 (Head 136 Carey 38)

A good ball from Jacks skids past Head’s attempted cut stroke. No matter: Head gets his boundary off the last ball of the over with a spectacular drive over extra cover. Those runs also bring up an Ashes-sealing century partnership between the two local boys.

06:38am

OVER 61: AUS 243/4 (Head 129 Carey 37)

Carey, who has been happy to coast along in Head’s slipstream, times the new bowler Tongue expertly for four more. Australia are starting to put the foot down again.

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06:37am

OVER 60: AUS 237/4 (Head 128 Carey 33)

Head charges down the pitch to pound Jacks over mid-on for four more. The risky selection of Jacks as England’s main spinner in this game hasn’t worked: he has taken 3 for 190 and gone at 5.28 runs per over.

06:32am

OVER 59: AUS 230/4 (Head 122 Carey 32)

Head opens the face to steer Carse behind square, a deft stroke that brings Australia’s first boundary off a quick bowler since the 41st over.

A punch down the ground for three by Carey extends Australia’s lead to 315. Still half an hour to go before England can get off the field.

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06:30am

OVER 58: AUS 220/4 (Head 115 Carey 29)

One from Jacks’ over.

06:24am

OVER 57: AUS 219/4 (Head 114 Carey 29)

England have closed down the off side with a kind of zig-zag field of four men saving one. The result is another tight over from Carse, who has had one of his better days of the series: 14-1-38-1 are his figures.

06:19am

OVER 56: AUS 218/4 (Head 113 Carey 29)

Head cuts loose for the first time since reaching his hundred, launching Jacks over extra cover for four. Those runs take Australia’s lead to 300; England have bowled and fielded well today but the reality of an imminent series defeat must be starting to sink in. It’ll take them a while to get over this.

06:17am

OVER 55: AUS 211/4 (Head 107 Carey 28)

I thought Head might have some fun after reaching his century. In fact the scoring rate has slowed, with three runs from the last three overs and 14 from the last seven. With two and a bit days left, Australia can do as they please.

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06:12am

OVER 54: AUS 210/4 (Head 106 Carey 28)

With around 50 minutes remaining, Jacks comes back on for Root. Once again there’s just a single from the over; Australia’s lead is now a worrying 295.

06:08am

Travis Head’s 11th Test century

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Travis Head only has two more Test centuries than Ollie Pope, in one match fewer, which feels mad given Head’s impact at so many crucial moments for Australia. And, well, the very real sense that this could be Pope’s last Test match for the foreseeable future.

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06:07am

OVER 53: AUS 209/4 (Head 105 Carey 28)

After an excellent spell of 5-1-4-0, Archer is replaced by Carse, who hustles through his first over at a cost of a single.

06:03am

OVER 52: AUS 208/4 (Head 104 Carey 28)

After eight balls on 99, an eternity for him, Travis Head drives Root over the top to reach his 11th Test century and his fourth against England. His mind-blowing 123 at Perth set the tone for this Ashes series; a more controlled century today – 146 balls, eight fours, two sixes – has surely cemented it.

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It’s Head’s fourth hundred in the last four Tests on his home ground, and he celebrates by getting on all fours to kiss the turf. They adore him at the Adelaide Oval and quite right too. In the last four years he has developed from an underachieving fringe player into arguably the best big-game player in world cricket.

05:59am

OVER 51: AUS 202/4 (Head 99 Carey 27)

Head is dropped on 99! He slashed Archer low to gully, where Brook put down a very tough chance by his left ankle. Brook has taken two similar catches today but he couldn’t hold on that time. Some very accurate bowling from Archer means that Head stays on 99 for now.

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At the end of the over, Ben Stokes returns to the field.

05:56am

Stokes off the field

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Ben Stokes has been off the field for about 10 minutes either side of the drinks break after banging his head on the ground fielding. Wonder if he’s having to go through a concussion test…

05:55am

OVER 50: AUS 201/4 (Head 99 Carey 26)

Excellent work from Root, who bowls five consecutive dot balls with Travis Head on 99. At one stage Head hit the ball straight to the substitute fielder Bethell and set off, only for Carey to wisely send him back.

05:49am

OVER 49: AUS 199/4 (Head 97 Carey 26)

Two runs from Archer’s over, the last before the drinks break. Australia lead by 284 and, even allowing for England’s acts of escapology in the last four years, it’s hard to see how they can win this game.

05:43am

OVER 48: AUS 197/4 (Head 96 Carey 25)

Carey drives Root fractionally short of Stokes at short cover, another moment of frustration for England. Head takes a couple of runs to move within four of another Ashes hundred.

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Stokes leaves the field at the end of the over. He bumped his head while trying to stop that drive from Carey a moment ago; not sure if that’s why he’s going off.

05:39am

OVER 47: AUS 193/4 (Head 93 Carey 24)

A brute of a delivery from Archer cuts Carey in half and is superbly caught down the leg side by Smith. England enquire for caught behind but it missed the inside edge.

After a slow start, Archer’s last two overs have been superb.

05:35am

OVER 46: AUS 193/4 (Head 93 Carey 24)

This partnership is already worth 44 in only 55 balls.

05:31am

OVER 45: AUS 188/4 (Head 92 Carey 20)

Archer hits Carey in the ribs with a sharp delivery. He’s starting to go through the gears, with his pace hitting 90mph towards the end of the over. Just a single from it.

05:26am

OVER 44: AUS 187/4 (Head 92 Carey 19)

Head clatters Root on the bounce to Carse, running round the boundary from long-off. He’s eight runs away from scoring a century in four consecutive Tests on his home ground. More importantly, Australia’s lead is an ominous 272.

05:24am

OVER 43: AUS 182/4 (Head 90 Carey 16)

Jofra Archer, who has been out of the attack since the ninth over, returns in place of Tongue. This is probably England’s last chance of keeping the series alive. His first ball is slightly too straight and flies away for four leg-byes; the rest of the over passes without incident.

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Archer’s figures are fine (6-1-11-0) but so far he’s had none of his first-innings threat.

05:19am

OVER 41: AUS 177/4 (Head 90 Carey 15)

Jacks gives way to Root, who has a very good head-to-head record against Carey: four dismissals in Tests at an average of 12. He starts with a pretty accurate over that is milked for three singles.

05:16am

OVER 41: AUS 174/4 (Head 89 Carey 13)

Carey push-drives Tongue wide of short cover and away for four more. It was in the air but wouldn’t have carried to Root anyway.

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With the way Head and Carey play, this could get away from England pretty quickly if they don’t make another breakthrough.

05:12am

OVER 40: AUS 169/4 (Head 89 Carey 8)

Australia milk Jacks for five singles before Head hammers the sixth ball towards the extra cover boundary. Duckett charges round and dives to save two runs with a quite brilliant piece of fielding.

Jacks’ figures are too expensive: 12-0-69-1.

05:08am

OVER 39: AUS 162/4 (Head 85 Carey 5)

Carey cuts Tongue for four to get off the mark. It was a poor ball but Carey dealt with it emphatically.

05:06am

OVER 38: AUS 156/4 (Head 84 Carey 0)

With the pressure building, Head skips down to thump Jacks over long on for six. That’s a beautifully timed stroke in more ways than one.

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Jacks has gone for 62 in 11 overs, something England cannot afford given the match situation. It might be time to bring back Jofra Archer at this end.

05:01am

OVER 37: AUS 149/4 (Head 77 Carey 0)

Alex Carey is the new batsman.

04:59am Wickets

Wicket!

Green c Brook b Tongue 7 Superb cricket from England. Tongue beats Green outside off stump, then finds the edge next ball with an almost identical full-length delivery. Brook swoops to his left at slip to take an outstanding low catch. FOW: 149/4

04:56am

England facing record Adelaide run chase

As Usman Khawaja falls for 40, a factoid flashes up on the giant screens that 315 is the highest successful run chase ever accomplished at the Adelaide Oval. It came in an Ashes Test, courtesy of Joe Darling’s Australia. Unhelpfully for Ben Stokes’ England, it was 123 years ago.

04:54am

OVER 36: AUS 147/3 (Head 76 Green 7)

Cam Green walks to the crease and drives his first ball assertively for four. Australia lead by 232.

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04:49am Wickets

Wicket!

Khawaja c Smith b Jacks 40 Khawaja falls to Jacks for the second time in the match. He tried to cut a long hop that bounced a touch more than expected and shaved the top edge. Jamie Smith took a good catch up to the stumps. FOW: 139/3

04:49am

OVER 35: AUS 139/2 (Head 75 Khawaja 40)

Josh Tongue hasn’t had much luck in this game. Head, beaten for pace, top-edges a hook that drops short of Crawley at fine leg.

04:45am

OVER 34: AUS 136/2 (Head 74 Khawaja 38)

Head skips down to blast Jacks through mid-on for four, a shot that almost took out the non-striker Khawaja. Later in the over he thinks about charging again, then thinks better of it as the ball spits past the bat. Good job he stayed at home or Jamie Smith would have had an easy stumping.

04:41am

OVER 33: AUS 132/2 (Head 70 Khawaja 38)

Tongue replaces Carse, which suggests there are concerns about the fitness of both Archer and Stokes. Between them they’ve bowled only two overs since lunch.

It’s a good, hostile start from Tongue: five dot balls and a single that allows Head to keep the strike.

04:38am

OVER 32: AUS 131/2 (Head 69 Khawaja 38)

Jacks return after tea in place of Root, who bowled a couple of overs before the break. It’s a really poor start: his second and third balls pitch outside leg stump and are swept firmly for four by Khawaja.

Twelve runs from the over in total. Jacks has gone at 5.29 runs per over in this Test; Nathan Lyon’s economy rate was 2.50.

04:33am

The evening session

Australia resume with a lead of 204 – realistically, England need a minimum of six wickets between now and the close of play.

04:23am

Tea verdict

Australia steadily grew their lead after lunch and are batting England out of the Test match. Travis Head is building towards another hometown hundred in this Test and Khawaja is preserving his place for the rest of the series.

Marnus Labuschagne was nicked off by the tireless Tongue, who has a good future in the rebuilding of this side.

Will Jacks bowled a couple of lovely deliveries to beat the left-handers and is another who has a chance over the remainder of this tour to keep his place.

The interesting aspect is the comparison between these teams when on top. In Perth, in a similar situation, England blew up. Australia did not let it slip in that afternoon session and have wickets in hand to hurt England in the final session.

04:16am

TEA: AUS 119/2, lead by 204

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Ben Stokes was physically, mentally and emotionally wrecked last night after his stoic show of defiance in 40 degree heat. And, with Jofra Archer, he batted well again this morning.

He is yet to bowl in this innings, though. These are circumstances in which he has often thrived – surging through the pain barrier to keep England in the game.

If we don’t see him straight after tea, you have to wonder whether he’s run out of puff. England have been OK in this session but only have one wicket to show for it. It feels like it could get ugly this evening…

Thanks for your company. Rob Smyth will be your guide for the final session.

04:14am

OVER 31: AUS 119/2 (Head 61 Khawaja 28)

Head takes on the bouncer, doesn’t middle it but no bother it still sails over the short boundary at fine leg for six, defying Crawley’s pogo-stick bounce on the fence. Although he has a fiddle at two down the legside, he doesn’t get any wood on them and he survives the last ball and walks off to tea having turned turtle to withdraw his head from Carse’s good bouncer.

They head off to tea 204 in front.

04:11am

OVER 30: AUS 113/2 (Head 61 Khawaja 28)

Khawaja takes Root for a two and a single, skelping the first down to long leg and driving the next wide of mid-off. Head’s slap down to point takes the lead to 199. Lots of chat about what’s chaseable on the commentary. Three hundred and even 350 have been mentioned. They have chased far more in the past but never with their heads in the state they are.

04:06am

OVER 29: AUS 109/2 (Head 61 Khawaja 24)

Stokes has put three men out on the hook for Head when facing Carse who opens with a bouncer that the left-hander ducks. There’s another boundary rider out for the uppercut. The next bouncer is very awkward and Head jack-knifes out of the way as it vaults over his head. He compliments the bowler. Stokes has seen enough to bring up a short leg. But Head then goes straight and fuller and Head taps it into a gap at cover and hares a single.

Khawaja fends another short one off his chest for a single into the offside. And Head plays the last ball down off his ribs with a jerky hop. Great energy from Carse and good execution.

04:00am

OVER 28: AUS 107/2 (Head 60 Khawaja 23)

Root bowls round the wicket to everyone so starts there for the left-handers naturally. Head cuts one of his round arm slingers for a single and Khawaja clips another off his toes.

Head takes a big stride and drives with an open face to point for a single. The amount of runs he scores there is phenomenal.

The lead climbs to 192.

03:57am

OVER 27: AUS 104/2 (Head 58 Khawaja 22)

Still no Stokes and Archer remains in the long grass. Stokes must be cooked, Archer too. Khawaja plays out five dot balls from Carse from round the wicket, defending, leaving, judging line well.

With 14 minutes before tea, Root will replace Jacks, He has been dropping hints for a while, wheeling his arm over.

03:54am

OVER 26: AUS 103/2 (Head 57 Khawaja 22)

New model Khawaja in his final role at No 4 is a stealth accumulator and these two bring up their fifty partnership. Khawaja shuffles back to chop a back-cut for three wide of third man and then Head throws everything but the kitchen sink at a wide one and flashes hard. The ball flies off the edge and Brook, at slip, didn’t see it until late and ducked as he feared decapitation. In fact it was higher than that but you can’t catch what you can’t see.

03:51am

OVER 25: AUS 93/2 (Head 51 Khawaja 18)

Fifty for Head when Carse drags one down and the left-hander collars it on the pull through midwicket for four. Root has taken on the role of booster for his team-mates, encouraging, advising. It’s like when Vito Corleone became Michael’s consigliere for a while before his death.

03:45am

OVER 24: AUS 88/2 (Head 46 Khawaja 15)

Jacks persuades one to grip, rip and spit up past Khawaja’s attempted cut stroke but he middles the next attempt at it for a single to the sweeper and Head does the same, through point’s dive.

03:42am

OVER 23: AUS 85/2 (Head 46 Khawaja 15)

Brydon Carse comes back for a second spell, replacing Tongue and sticking to his over-the-wicket strategy to the left-handers. Archer stops two drives at mid-off, the first with an agile dive that brings Root 20 yards to commend him. Head dices gully with a cut for a single and Carse tests Khawaja’s lumbago with the bouncer and he passes the test by rolling his wrists on a pull for a single.

03:36am

OVER 22: AUS 83/2 (Head 45 Khawaja 14)

The two mollydookers take singles off Jacks into the legside with flicks and nurdles. For someone who was going at five an over in the first innings has managed to keep a lid on it so far.

03:35am

OVER 21: AUS 81/2 (Head 40 Khawaja 12)

Tongue gives up on the round the wicket attack and comes over. Stokes gives him an offisde ring and he bowls across Head who accepts the invitation and thrashes through the line, slashing it between cover point and cover for four. Tongue goes straighter and Head drives straight, too, into the non-striker’s stumps which cost him the boundary he thought it merited.

03:30am

OVER 20: AUS 76/2 (Head 40 Khawaja 12)

Jacks bowls some seriously good balls for all his inexperience in red-ball games. Now he rips one past Head’s tentative push and the ball whistles past off-stump. If Lyon had bowled that Labuschagne would have anointed it the ball of the century from slip but England don’t have an MC of note to sing their bowlers’ praises.

03:25am

OVER 19: AUS 72/2 (Head 38 Khawaja 10)

Head slashes a wide one from Tongue over the slips for four then prods a no-ball for a single. Both left-handers play tip and run for singles and the lead builds to 257.

The game’s still in reach. Give the ball to Archer and ask for three overs of rockets to the left-handers.

03:20am

OVER 18: AUS 64/2 (Head 32 Khawaja 9)

Khawaja celebrates Dick van Dyke’s centenary by getting his brush out and sweeping Jacks, who loses his line momentarily, for four.

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Josh Tongue has been better than his figures suggest in this game. He was the unlucky bowler when Brook dropped Khawaja in the first innings, and when Carey received his extraordinary reprieve. He takes wickets in clumps, and likes bowling to left-handers. England need him to get on a roll here.

03:18am

OVER 17: AUS 57/2 (Head 30 Khawaja 4)

A snorter from Tongue gets him the wicket he deserves after two peaches that preceded. He comes round the wicket to Khawaja who is squared up by angle and pace but then Tongue ends the over with a pie, sitting up nicely outside off and Khawaja slaps it through point for four.

03:10am Wickets

Wicket!

Labuschagne c Brook b Tongue 13 Fine catch at second slip, though it was checked upstairs. The third card in a three-card trick. The first ball of the over had Labuschagne squared up but leaving it, the second clipped his pad flap but just outside the line as it jagged back in and the third, angled in from Tongue’s unusual action, kissed the edge and Brook did the rest. FOW 53/2

03:09am

OVER 16: AUS 50/1 (Head 29 Labuschagne 11)

Labuschagne whisks a single off his toes through midwicket and Head plays the mirror shot as a left-hander to take Jacks for another. Significant turn off the footholds outside the right-handers’ off stump.

Jacks finds Head’s edge, pitching on middle and leg and turning. The edge dies 3ft in front of Brook at slip. Some good nuts so far from Jacks.

03:04am

OVER 15: AUS 50/1 (Head 29 Labuschagne 11)

Still an awful lot of gaps in the field for the seamers. Head drives through point for two but Tongue then beats him with a guzunder that scoots beneath his attempted square cut. Tongue responds with a bouncer that climbs so high the umpire calls it wide. That took off.

03:00am

OVER 14: AUS 47/1 (Head 27 Labuschagne 11)

The off-spinner has a slip and short-leg. Big turn from his first ball to the right-hander but Labuschagne leans back to cut him off the stumps for a single. After Brook’s alertness prevents the ball from touching the helmet and costing five runs when it nutmegs Smith, Head drives out to the cover boundary for a single. Jacks tightens his line to off-stump, making Labuschagne play and defend three in succession.

02:55am

OVER 13: AUS 45/1 (Head 26 Labuschagne 10)

Australia try to turn the screw by stealing a second run when Head, playing late, opens the face on the back foot to glide the ball down to backward point. He plays the same stroke again next ball for a single, thickening that spoke on his wagon wheel.

Tongue is touching 90mph but Head still has the class on a dead pitch to play it so late and angle the bat, slicing England to death.

Jacks, not Stokes, will now replace Carse.

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Dangerous period now for England. They have largely bowled well since lunch, but the Aussie pair are now in and starting to make hay. I suspect they are waiting for Jacks.

02:51am

OVER 12: AUS 41/1 (Head 23 Labuschagne 9)

Carse comes round the wicket to the left-handed Head, trying to cramp his style outside off.  After two dot balls he changes the angles, comes back over and oversteps while Head relaxes the wrists to steer two through point. He’s so prolific in that area. Both Swann and Cook say the field is all wrong, too many fielders there for bad balls and two few in attacking positions. Carse, reverting to round the wicket, sprays one on to middle and leg and Head whisks it for four wide of mid-on.

England began this innings with a refreshingly fuller length but the prospect of penetration seems to be receding with each over as the ball gets softer.

02:44am

OVER 11: AUS 33/1 (Head 16 Labuschagne 9)

Tongue has cover, point and mid-off for Tongue who comes round the wicket to Head. After missing two flicks at ones angled in to him, Head slashes a cut over backward point and Jacks slips as he tried to cut it off on the boundary, letting it through for four. Australia start to build momentum with three quick singles.

02:41am

OVER 10: AUS 26/1 (Head 10 Labuschagne 8)

Carse squares Labuschagne up in defence. When he went for a good length in the first innings it was floaty but this innings he has found more bite. The right-hander leaves two on a fifth-stump line and is beaten by the last that angles in from wide on the crease and whistles past the splice as he squares Labuschagne up again.

Tongue is coming on for Archer.

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As we saw with the Marnus edge that didn’t carry through to Smith, there is very little carry. The worry, batting fourth, will be that some might scoot through. Fair play to Brydon Carse, who bowled some pretty grim stuff on day one. Either side of lunch, he’s bowled easily his best spell since Perth.

02:37am

OVER 9: AUS 25/1 (Head 8 Labuschagne 8)

Just the single off Archer’s fifth over, dabbing one off the stumps down to third man. Archer is limping a bit but finding a good, nagging line.

02:33am

OVER 8: AUS 24/1 (Head 8 Labuschagne 8)

Carse finds Head’s edge but it shoots along the ground and the left-hander flashes at a wider one to take a single, well-stopped by Duckett, on the point boundary.

Smith said he didn’t think Labuschagne hit it but Brook and Root did and persuaded Stokes to go for it with a second to spare. And who knows what Snicko might have spewed up?

02:30am

NOT OUT

The third umpire says that there was a clear gap between bat and ball but there was a smudge on the defective technology.

02:29am

England review

Labuschagne c Smith b Carse There was as ound but what was it?

02:28am

OVER 7: AUS 23/1 (Head 7 Labuschagne 8)

Archer finds the corridor and it turns into a good leave by Labuschagne who climbs into the next ball’s width to drive it for two through point. His pace is in the low eighties but he will crank it up. Just a second slip in for him. Labuschagne works a single off his toes in front of square. Head plays and misses at one angled across him from round  the wicket and Smith gathers with a hop into the legside. Head pinches the strike with a tap off a ball angling on to off stump, jerking it square.

Head is the game-stealer. If they can knock him over in the next couple of overs, they can open the door a tiny bit more.

02:21am

OVER 6: AUS 19/1 (Head 6 Labuschagne 5)

Only one slip for Carse who pitches up again and Head drags it to mid-on. The next ball is fuller still, wider, and Head drives it for a single.

Big appeal when Labuschagne feathers an edge but the ball dies just before Smith’s gloves and he takes it on the bounce. The right-hander drills a drive to wide mid-off  for a single and asks the umpire to see if there’s something in his eye at the non-striker’s.

Much better length from Carse and good wheels at 86mph, too.

02:18am

Umpire review for fair catch

Labuschagne c Smith b Carse Nope, it bounced.

02:14am

Players are on their way back out

Labuschagne, hatless, as he left his helmet to dry by the boundary. Carse will continue.

02:11am

Very superstitious, writings on the wall

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We’ve just had Adelaide Oval’s famous plum chicken for lunch. Very pleasant, but if it’s on offer in the England dining room Ben Stokes won’t be having it. He’s deeply superstitious, so anything with any negative cricketing connotations is off limits. Plum(b lbw) chicken fits the bill. You won’t often hear of players eating duck during a Test, while Jos Buttler said on his podcast recently that he even steers clear of Polo mints because of their shape.

01:58am

‘England must restrict Australia to 220-run lead’

01:40am

Lunch verdict

For those looking for a positive omen Australia are in a similar position to England at lunch on day two in Perth: they are 102 ahead with nine wickets in hand. We all know how that ended. A repeat seems unlikely on this pitch.

Archer put the flat deck into perspective with his first Test fifty, England adding 73 to their overnight total to keep Australia’s lead down to 85. Stokes set the example with 83 off 198 balls which included his slowest Test fifty.

If only the others had stayed with him on a perfect batting day yesterday. Small victory for England – they forced Australia to take the second new ball for the first time in the series. It did the business for Starc who bowled Stokes with a rapid yorker and Archer edged Boland to slip.

Jake Weatherald handed England a freebie when he failed to review a leg before when he was given out on one. Replays showed it pitched outside leg stump.

England need a clatter of wickets in the second session to have any hope, otherwise the match could be over as a contest tonight.

01:39am

Lunch: AUS 17/1

Weatherald’s wicket was a bonus and one would argue that it’s the first bit of luck that has gone their way in the match and possibly the series. But the new ball is not doing what it did for Cummins, Boland and Starc and England will need to crank up their pace and bowl smarter if they are to bowl Australia out for a gettable score. A good morning nonetheless by virtue of Stokes, Archer and stealing that wicket.

01:35am

OVER 5: AUS 16/1 (Head 5 Labuschagne 4)

Head works Archer off his pads for a single. Labuschagne, who wasn’t impressed that the umpires allowed another over before the break, hs three to face. The first of them kisses his pocket as he raises his hands out of the way. England have a leg slip and leg gully in for him, targeting his ribs. Archer pitches the last two up and Labuschagne defends.

Australia lead by 102.

01:31am

OVER 4: AUS 16/1 (Head 4 Labuschagne 4)

Carse is finding that fuller length but loses his line to Labuschagne, spraying it on to middle and leg, allowing him cuff it for four. Two singles preceded it, both slapped out to point where Duckett does the fielding.

Time for one more over before lunch.

01:26am

OVER 3: AUS 9/1 (Head 1 Labuschagne 0)

Archer’s pace is climbing and he starts his second over with four dot balls to Labuschagne, the last of them by virtue of Pope’s terrific stop at cover. By the fifth ball he is breaching 140kph, 87mph, squaring Labuschagne up and Australia’s No 3 shoulders arms to the last to put a maiden in Archer’s figures.

01:23am

OVER 2: AUS 9/1 (Head 1 Labuschagne 1)

He starts over the wicket to Weatherald, still a little too short but with some movement and the luck that deserted him in the first innings is on his side now as he pins Weatherald who walks off after the finger went up. A review would have reprieved him.

After Labuschagne jogs a leg-bye, Carse pins Head with one that seemed to do him for pace but was angling across the left-hander and missing off stump.

01:17am Wickets

Wicket!

Weatherald lbw b Carse 1 He has repaid his captain’s faith! With one that was angled on to middle and leg and kept going. But it pitched outside leg and Weatherald failed to review after consulting Head. FOW 8/1

01:16am

OVER 1: AUS 8/0 (Head 1 Weatherald 1)

Archer starts at 82mph and Head chips the first ball off the inside edge into the pad and hares a single. Weatherald sways inside the bouncer that follows him and did for him in the first innings and then Archer hoops four byes down the legside and he stands and grimaces. Archer overcorrects and oversteps twice then has him fending off his body before he, too, gets off the mark with a tuck off his hip. Creaky start from Archer.

It’s Carse, not Tongue. He needs to repay his captain’s faith.

01:10am

Archer has the new ball

And Travis Head takes guard. The question is whether it will be Tongue or Carse from the other end. Has to be Tongue.

01:07am

Setting an example

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Jofra Archer’s innings here was England’s fourth of 100 balls in this series. Root in Brisbane, then Stokes in Adelaide and Brisbane were the others.

01:01am

England 286 all out

The last two wickets added 118 to reduce Australia’s lead to 85. And although Archer was batting, rather than being off the field, the bowlers in general have had their longest in-game rest of the series, a shade over 24 hours.

England added 73 this morning, much better than expected and Stokes has epitomised the fight he wants to see from his team. He really is terrific at getting the best out of Archer, who batted responsibly for his first Test fifty. If only the others had shown the same application. A couple have kept low this morning, encouraging for England’s bowlers. What can they realistically chase down to win? Maybe 300-320. Let’s be optimistic.

12:59am Wickets

Wicket!

Archer c Labuschagne b Boland 51 Driving with hard hands he nicks off to slip. FOW 286 all out.

12:58am

OVER 86: ENG 286/9 (Archer 51 Tongue 7)

Archer tries to flick Starc’s inswinger that bends banana-fashion down the legside and goes for four leg-byes. Archer says he nicked it and I think he did but the umpire still pats his knee. Perhaps miffed at not adding to his score, Archer charges Starc and has a wild wind-up whoosh. The ball flies off the toe down to third mand and he turns down the single, protecting Tongue, which is a fun innovation.

He does take a single with a clip off his toes in front of square and Tongue again plays a sweetly timed drive, opening the face to steer two to the point sweeper.

12:51am

OVER 85: ENG 279/9 (Archer 50 Tongue 5)

The Stokes-Archer partnership was 106.

Tongue plays a fine cover drive for two then ducks Cummins’ bouncer. The No 11 then has a No 11’s whoosh at one outside off. After that brain-fade he plays a very handsome leg-glance, middling it for two.

Quite the rapprochement between Stokes and Archer after their frosty exchange of words on day two. Even though Stokes is incandescent after swiping hard at a wobble-seaming Starc delivery he should have left, Archer runs across to the boundary rope to congratulate him on a huge stint. Their 106 together was England’s highest Ashes ninth-wicket partnership for 99 years.

12:47am

OVER 85: ENG 275/9 (Archer 50 Tongue 1)

Tongue understandably looks all at sea against a great left-arm quick, bowling 90mph and moving it both ways unpredictably. After two close shaves, fishing and a leg-before shout, he gets off the mark with a clip off his pads for a single.

12:44am

NOT OUT

Inswinger but it was umpire’s call on impact on leg stump.

12:43am

Australia review

Tongue lbw b Starc  Where did it pitch? Wobble seam again.

12:40am Wickets

Wicket!

Stokes b Starc 83 Castled through the gate with the one that nips back in through the gate. Wobble-seam again. Stokes’ judgment failed him for the first time in 198 balls. That wasn’t the ball to try to thrash. England trail by 97. Stokes tosses the bat, exasperated and annoyed, he thought it was the outswinger. That’s the joy of the scrambled seam. FOW 274/9

12:39am

OVER 84: ENG 274/8 (Stokes 83 Archer 50)

A maiden Test fifty for Jofra Archer to go with his five-for. Who’s the champion now, Smudge? He drills a square drive out to the point sweeper for a single.

Stokes goes for Cummins’ wide tempter with a yahoo of a drive but thrashes at fresh air only then steers a single down to third man off a thick edge of his Gunn and Moore.

12:36am

OVER 83: ENG 272/8 (Stokes 82 Archer 49)

Stokes retreats to the legside to change the angle and tries to drive Starc’s outswinger straight past the bowler but finds mid-off. he takes a single with a tap to point to reduce the deficit to a round hundred. Archer chases a wide one but doesn’t reach it. Starc is a wizard of wobble and beats him again with the scrambled seam, nice and full, nipping away. But when Starc overpitches Archer drives the inswinger to mid-on and sprints a single.

12:27am

OVER 82: ENG 270/8 (Stokes 81 Archer 48)

Cummins starts with a half-tracker that Stokes hammers for four on the pull but Cummins follows that loosener with a beauty, a real effort ball that takes the inside edge, almost emasculates Stokes, but flies down to fine leg for four more. That’s the hundred partnership. England’s two World Cup final heroes, six years on, back for one last big job.

Cummins, though, is threatening with some rippers, jagging one past Stokes’ edge as he groped forward then nibbling the next into his pads and appealing with great enthusiasm. Too high.

Time for drinks.

It had seemed almost inconceivable, when Brydon Carse departed for a duck to leave 168/8, that England would cut Australia’s lead to under 100. But here we are, with Ben Stokes showing the requisite bit of mongrel he had promised and Jofra Archer achieving his highest Test score for the second straight match.

12:22am

OVER 81: ENG 261/8 (Stokes 72 Archer 48)

Stokes trusts Archer and takes a single off the first ball, scything a cut behind point off a short one. Starc then beats Archer for pace with a beauty that starts on a fourth-stump line, hits the seam, gates him and whistles over off stump as Archer tried to swipe it through midwicket.

The next ball hoops towards leg and pins Archer on the knee roll, just outside the line as he tried to tickle it. Carey shakes his head when Starc asks if he should send it upstairs. A solid forward defensive from Archer delights the England supporters who are willing him towards a maiden Test fifty and, though he goes fishing at the last, letting his hands follow one that was angled across him and kept going, he survives.

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At the fifth time of asking, halfway through the series, England have made it to the second new ball for the first time. This has been gallant stuff from Stokes and Archer, who really are the only players, alongside Root, who can hold their heads high at this point of the series.

12:17am

OVER 80: ENG 260/8 (Stokes 71 Archer 48)

Last over before the new ball, the first time Australia will have to resort to it in the series. Stokes drives a single through cover and Archer plays a lovely late cut for two. Fab knock this from Jofra. He has shown excellent judgment.

Here comes Starc with the new ball.

12:15am

OVER 79: ENG 257/8 (Stokes 70 Archer 46)

Green will have one more before the new ball. Stokes glides a single off an open face through point. Archer rightly sends Stokes back when he plays a forward press to cover.The captain beats the throw which misses the stumps and they run an overthrow. Stokes gleans another single with a square drive and Archer connects with one of Green’s legside half-volleys, which he missed out on in his first over, tickling it fine for four to take the stand to 89, England’s best for the ninth wicket at Adelaide, surpassing Godfrey Evans and Denis Compton in 1948.

12:11am

OVER 78: ENG 250/8 (Stokes 68 Archer 41)

Lyon rags one square through Archer’s gate, hitting the foothold saucer outside off and fizzing past leg-stump. Carey has no chance and Stokes, sprinting hard, makes it back for three byes.

Stokes flicks a single off his pads to bring up the 250 which brings a resounding round of applause. Archer takes on the square cut but the ball stays low and scuttles under his bottom edge. There’s a gasp from Carey and Lyon but no bat.

The partnership is 82.

12:06am

OVER 77: ENG 246/8 (Stokes 67 Archer 41)

The first fright of the morning when Archer goes fishing at one from Green, nice and full, that shapes away late. But he didn’t hit it and then Archer steers a single down through point for a single. On passing 76.3 overs this is now England’s longest innings of the series. Stokes, with only a gully in for Green, ducks the loopy bouncer.

12:02am

OVER 76: ENG 244/8 (Stokes 66 Archer 40)

Shades of his greatest Test innings from Stokes when he reverse sweeps Lyon, hard and flat for four through point. Next ball he shuffles back into his crease to slap a single through cover with a bat halfway between the horizontal and perpendicular.

Lyon tries to tempt Archer to have a slog with flight and dip but Archer blocks all three, biding his time.

11:59pm

OVER 75: ENG 239/8 (Stokes 61 Archer 40)

Green starts with a short one but angling down the legside and Archer pulls it for four down to long leg. Stokes opens the face to drive a single to the point sweeper. Archer ducks two offside bouncers then chastises himself for failing to get bat on a pie that again angled way down leg, this time fuller.

11:54pm

OVER 74: ENG 237/8 (Stokes 60 Archer 39)

Archer drives Lyon down the ground for a single to match his Test best then, after Stokes shuffles back to tap a single through cover, Archer makes his best score by chipping an off-break down to long-on.

Cummins brings Green on to replace Boland and posts three out on the hook.

11:50pm

OVER 73: ENG 234/8 (Stokes 59 Archer 37)

Stokes laces a cover drive off Boland for four and only a terrific headlong dive from Starc on the backward point boundary prevents another when Stokes opened the face. They run two. Boland, ‘Barrel as they call him’ comes back round the wicket and strays on to Stokes pads and he whisks him through midwicket for two.

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That is a quite brilliant piece of fielding from Mitchell Starc on the boundary. He is 36 next month, has bowled (and batted) his heart out all series, and is still diving full length to save two on the fence. Exceptional.

11:46pm

OVER 72: ENG 226/8 (Stokes 51 Archer 37)

Stokes square drives for a single, giving Archer three to face and he smashes the second of them over the long midwicket boundary for six! Shot! Lyon, the old magician, slows his pace right down but the overspin still makes it spit up but Jofra defends it with an angled bat, a bit jabbily.

The faintest acknowledgement by Ben Stokes of that 50, off 159 balls, but a monumental effort in the circumstances. He knows he somehow has to endure for another session or two if England are to have a flicker of a chance here. You hope the team physios have repaired him overnight. He looked a husk by the end of day two.

11:42pm

OVER 71: ENG 219/8 (Stokes 50 Archer 31)

Carey comes up to the stumps for Boland to stop Stokes charging him. I think only Ben Foakes in England could do the same to someone bowling 85mph.

After defending a few, Stokes opens the face to steer a single through point to bring up his half-century off 159 balls. That’s his slowest Test fifty, seven balls more than Headingley 2019 and 11 more than the Gabba 10 days ago. Archer blocks out the rest of the over.

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Stokes used his feet in Boland’s first over, so Carey has come up to the stumps again. He’s already created a couple of wickets, including Jacks yesterday, by standing up.

11:39pm

OVER 70: ENG 218/8 (Stokes 49 Archer 31)

Nathan Lyon, who finished yesterday with two for 51. He has a short leg for Archer who defends with an angled bat, solidly, the off-breaks turning into him. Archer slaps a defensive off the back foot and then tries to whisk another through midwicket but that gap has been filled.

Lyon starts with a maiden.

11:34pm

OVER 69: ENG 218/8 (Stokes 49 Archer 31)

Scott Boland hits his postage stamp area and Archer defends which triggers Jerusalem. Archer defends with the inside-edge when Boland gets one to seam back in and takes a single to square leg. Just the one slip and a gully for Stokes. Boland comes round to the left-hander who check-drives to mid-off then leaves the next on length. Stokes gets weaving with a big hop and stride down the pitch to smear him through the covers for four to bring up the fifty partnership.

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Good morning from Adelaide Oval where, mercifully, it’s much cooler than yesterday. 40 has become 30, which is a relief, especially for England’s fielders who can expect a long shift after Australia clean up the tail.

Another day of Snicko drama yesterday. There’s been a bit of speculation that it could be replaced by hawkeye before Christmas but Cricket Australia officials are very much briefing that this is unlikely, on logistical and contractual levels. There is definite desire for major improvements, though.

11:30pm

Scott Boland has the ball

Jofra Archer on strike. Two slips and a gully.

11:29pm

There’s quite a breeze

As the players come out. ‘Believe in Christmas miracles,” says Graeme Swann who predicted yesterday that England would make 600.

11:20pm

Turning Japanese

11:17pm

A head of the game

11:06pm

Justin Langer on England’s technique

10:59pm

Picking a petrified rabbit like Pope shows English cricket has become a cult

On days like these, you wonder, frankly, just how deep a dive England conducted on Ollie Pope’s data before bringing him to Australia. Did they consider the fact he had never scored an Ashes half-century? Or was it more significant that he had a golf handicap of 4.5? The rhetoric around “Popey” has become familiar: great team man, happy to be in the background, all-round dressing-room legend. But here in the blistering heat of Adelaide, Pope was such a zombie, such a petrified rabbit in headlights, that the version in the Vatican might just have done a better job.

The manner of his latest demise, flailing helplessly to Josh Inglis at midwicket off an innocuous Nathan Lyon delivery that lacked any drift or extra bounce, was emblematic. “An absolute road,” Justin Langer called this pitch. And yet Pope somehow made it resemble the Road of Bones, the desolate Siberian highway with potholes like lunar craters. No matter how enticing the conditions Down Under, he contrives ever more witless ways to set fire to his innings. This was the most egregious example yet, a nothing shot to a nothing ball, encapsulating the folly of England’s faith that he had the temperament for such a series.

10:46pm

Yesterday was a ‘Marcus day’

Where assistant coach Marcus Trescothick was sent out to give the dressing room’s view and he was asked whether he thought Ben Stokes had been let down by his team:

I’m not sure ‘letting him down’ is the right terminology to use to be honest. Everybody is trying 100 per cent and working as hard as they can.

It’s not like anybody is going in to any game and not working as hard as anybody else. They just haven’t had the success they wanted at this stage. But success comes and goes, it’s not guaranteed or given that you’ll succeed in every series.

Ben has chosen to play in that fashion today and gone about it in a way he thought was right. Everybody has the opportunity to try and read the situation and judge what they’re going to try and do; the players will play in certain ways and we trust them to do that.

He’s tired and a bit dehydrated. He was cramping most of the last session. It’s kind of what he does and it almost focuses him. He’s at his best when he’s in that frame of mind, when it’s really tricky and tough, when there are conditions or situations that other people don’t succeed in.

He found it hard getting enough the volume of carbohydrate drink into him because he was sweating so quickly. He couldn’t drink as much as he wanted through feeling a bit ill. But he dug in, worked hard and batted out for a long period of time.

10:35pm

A world of pain

10:20pm

Blessed relief

Our daily bulletin from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology informs us that today’s maximum temperature will be 30C (86F) compared with yesterday’s 41 (105F). There will be some cloud cover, too, from the sun.

10:09pm

Preview: The end of the beginning ot the beginning of the end?

Good evening and welcome to live coverage of day three of the third Test of the 2025-26 Ashes series from Adelaide which begins with England on 213 for eight, 158 behind Australia and 12 overs to go before the new ball (which Australia have not yet needed to take in the series so far). There’s nothing quite like the sight of Australian Tests from an English winter, the verdant green of the square, the phosphorous yellow/white of the pitch and that sky of the closing lines of Clive James’ Unreliable Memoirs, “the texture of crushed sapphires”. But for the fourth successive tour the housebound England fan turns into the Fast Show’s Johnny Nice Painter – all we can see now is “black, black, black, black”.

If this is the end of the cycle, the so-called Bazball era, let us not join the stampede to dance on its grave without a little context. Ben Stokes took over a side that had won once in 17 Tests. It was not only exhausted, it was demoralised. They had been exploited as a commodity during the Covid pandemic, cash cows sent across the world to keep the farcical structure of the English game alive with no thought for their wellbeing. They were tested beyond endurance and reason for the virus in increasingly intrusive and painful ways, shut up in hotel rooms on their own in Southampton, Manchester, across Sri Lanka, Australia and India and their form and spirit collapsed.

What Brendon McCullum, Rob Key and Stokes tried to do was introduce some empathy into the way the players were treated, to empower them to enjoy themselves while earning their living and to entertain. It brought them some thrilling victories after the dog days of the late Root captaincy and much of the Alastair Cook regime, three fine series wins over India away and two home Ashes wins notwithstanding. They have come a long way but have not developed any genuine leaders in the ranks. Sadly, it seems, when it came to the crunch, as it did from the start of their second innings in Perth, too many players are oddly diffident and indecisive. The indecision over selection has become contagious and the flaws in technique, which aggression and flat pitches masked, are exposed in the Australian sun and under the interrogation of masterly bowlers.

We are not even at the midway point of this Test. There are 22 wickets and three days left. Normally that would inspire some clutching at straws, trawling for encouraging statistical precedents, whistling in the dark. But there seems to be little point tonight. Only grit and an enormous slice of luck can miraculously save them now. We have seen it before at home and by other teams in Australia. But their performances on the tour and in this Test to date have never made the prospect of resurrecting their most stirring days seem so far away. If they are to go down, though, I hope they go hard, no blood or sweat withheld.

Play starts at 11.30pm GMT.