England’s Ashes hopes are vanishing after they were overwhelmed by Australia amid more Snicko controversy on the second day of the third Test.
In temperatures that touched 41 degrees at the Adelaide Oval, England crumbled to 213-8 in blameless batting conditions. They are 158 runs adrift of Australia.
This was not a collapse caused by Bazballing batting, rather a fold in the face of relentless Australia bowling.
Only Ollie Pope, whose Test career is now hanging by a thread, and Jamie Smith were dismissed playing attacking shots – and Smith was at the centre of the Snicko confusion.
A day after Australia’s Alex Carey was reprieved by a Snicko error, Smith first survived then was given out on the evidence of the technology, with players on both sides apparently losing faith in the decision review system (DRS).
But the debate surrounding DRS cannot mask the truth that England have wilted in the Ashes cauldron and could lose this series in as few as 10 days of cricket.
After Australia pushed on to 371 all out – the outstanding Jofra Archer with 5-53 – England’s reply was in tatters at 42-3 when the tourists lost three wickets for five runs in 15 balls.
Harry Brook reined in his attacking instincts with 45 from 63 balls, while captain Ben Stokes dug a trench with a painstaking 45 not out from 151 deliveries. He found some late support in a stand of 45 with Archer, who is 30 not out.
But England were powerless to withstand the Australian excellence. The returning Pat Cummins claimed 3-54, while Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon took two wickets apiece.
At some point over the weekend, Cummins looks likely to once again become an Ashes-winning captain and the bloodletting of this England regime will begin.