England in dire trouble in Adelaide after another day of desperate batting

England’s Ashes hopes were circling the drain after another batting surrender on day two in Adelaide.

Already 2-0 down after falling short in Perth and Brisbane, the tourists were found wanting for the third Test in a row as they capitulated in near-perfect batting conditions.

The pitch was benign, the outfield fast and the sun was beating down at more than 40 degrees – the kind of conditions bowling sides have nightmares about.

But it was England who wilted in response to Australia’s score of 371, faltering to a timid 213 for eight.

Just as he did in a losing cause at the Gabba, captain Ben Stokes tried to inject some defiance as he blocked his way to 45 not out from 151 deliveries, but his deep defensive trench could only do so much.

He was in visible discomfort throughout the final session, stretching, cramping and occasionally hobbling as he ran, and there must be fears over the damage he may do if required to bowl in the second innings.

For the second day in a row there was confusion about the reliability of the Snickometer technology, with Jamie Smith involved in two disputed decisions that caused confusion on both sides. He survived one and perished from the other, draining confidence in the system and leading for growing calls to banish it from the DRS process in its current form.

But fixating on that would be a distraction from England’s weak-willed performance and Australia’s excellent bowling, which leaned heavily on returning captain Pat Cummins and recalled spinner Nathan Lyon.

Cummins, fit again after back problems, bowled with relentless accuracy and high skill in his first competitive appearance since July, claiming three for 54.

Lyon, meanwhile, rebounded from his dropping in Brisbane by equalling and then overtaking Glenn McGrath’s mark of 562 Test scalps to become Australia’s second highest wicket-taker and sixth on the all-time list.

There were early signs that it would not be England’s day when another leaky bowling display saw them ship 45 quickfire runs for the last two wickets.

Jofra Archer picked up both of them to finish with five for 53, his best figures since his debut summer of 2019. After a lean tour, there was a real chance to bank some big runs on the friendliest ground in the country but the opportunity went begging.

At the 10-mark the entire top three had come and gone, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett departing in the space of 15 balls before lunch. Crawley nicked behind defending Cummins, and Duckett was bowled by a classic off-break from Lyon, but Pope’s limp flick to midwicket was an abysmal stroke.

He looked haunted during his 10-ball stay and, with his average against Australia now lowered to 17.66, his time at number three is surely up.

England managed to avoid another hammer blow when Joe Root was spared on one after grazing an inside edge off Scott Boland. With uncertainty over the take by Alex Carey – the man who was wrongly reprieved by a Snicko error on day one – TV umpire Chris Gaffaney would have been feeling the heat.

After several close looks from a number of angles, he settled a tight call in Root’s favour. It had the potential to be a significant moment in the match but England’s record run-scorer could not make it count, nicking Cummins through to Carey more definitively for 19 in the third over after lunch.

Stokes blocked out the rest of the session from one end, beginning his long vigil, and Harry Brook showed a more disciplined method as he did the bulk of the scoring in a 52-run stand.

He reached 45, including one remarkable blow for six over cover point, but came undone as tea approached. This time it was all-rounder Cameron Green who made the breakthrough, nipping one off the seam and flicking the outside edge.

Smith’s stay was eventful, his two brushes with Snickometer cranking up the now universal bafflement over its use, but not impactful.

With a stern-faced Stokes wheeling out a steady supply of forward defensives to buy his bowlers a night off, Boland prised out Will Jacks and Brydon Carse. Archer made a lively 30no as he offered Stokes some belated support but Australia’s lead of 158 retained an ominous feel.