Australia has finished day four needing four wickets to reclaim the Ashes, thanks to Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan Lyon.
Here are the quick hits from day four of the third Ashes Test in Adelaide.
1. England’s tactics mocked as Stokes returns with the ball
Stokes returned to the bowling crease on day four. (Getty Images: Santanu Banik/MB Media)
If England had any hope of forcing a miracle on day four, it didn’t last for long.
Australia’s unbeaten South Australian pair of Travis Head and Alex Carey started the day even more positively than they finished the last, scoring at more than a run a ball as Head wasted no time in going past 150 for the sixth time in his Test career.
Brydon Carse, after playing his best cricket of the tour on day three, was back to his wayward worst, conceding 26 from three overs before being yanked from the attack.
England’s plans were muddled as Ben Stokes, shaking off an apparent knock and returning to the bowling crease after taking “a bit of time to himself” on day three, was unable to stem the bleeding with some funky leg-side fields.
On commentary for ABC Sport, former Australia batter Darren Lehmann could hardly believe what he was seeing.
“But this bowling … they’re gonna bowl leg stump line with a leg slip, forward square … mid-wicket, mid-on, fine leg,” Lehmann says.
“They’re going to try and get a nick down the leg-side.
“You are kidding me. This is rubbish!”
However, Lehmann was eventually made to eat his words.
2. Carey belatedly dismissed for 72
Day one feels like about a dozen snicko controversies ago, but if you remember Alex Carey’s incident that kicked this all off, he was on 72 when he was caught by Jamie Smith.
As we know, a snicko “error” bailed him out and he went on to celebrate an emotional century.
Entering day four, he had already made history as the first Australian wicketkeeper to pair a 50 with a ton in the same Test, but had his eyes on double triple figures alongside Travis Head.
Alas, his great mate left a double ton on the table when he holed out for 170 before Carey gloved Ben Stokes down the leg side, falling straight into the trap that Lehmann had been deriding so viciously just a few minutes earlier.
3. Marnus emulates Smith with miracle grab
Steve Smith’s grab in Brisbane vs Marnus Labuschagne’s in Adelaide. (Supplied: Fox Sports)
The similarities between Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith are plain to see. Both cricket obsessed and idiosyncratic out in the field.
And, with Smith missing this match due to vertigo symptoms, Labuschagne took it upon himself to complete his role as Diet Smudge.
Pat Cummins was all over Ollie Pope and with the Adelaide pitch playing slowly and balls dropping short, the slips had moved a step or two closer than usual.
Eventually, just as it did when Smith broke the frustrating Will Jacks-Ben Stokes partnership in Brisbane, the inevitable edge arrived and this time it was Labuschagne who took the slim chance he was provided.
The ball sailed down fine off the bat and was never going to reach Usman Khawaja at first slip, so Labuschagne instinctively flung his body at it with the left hand outstretched.
It made contact just a few centimetres off the grass and stuck like glue, sending Australia and Marnus into raptures.
4. Root’s emotional rollercoaster
Root felt the full range of emotions on day four in Adelaide. (Fox Cricket, Getty Images: Gareth Copley)
England’s best batter had looked so composed, so in control throughout his innings, hardly bothered by Australia’s world class bowling attack.
But, coming out after tea, he had an entirely different challenge to face.
The Adelaide Oval crowd went up as one as Cummins threw the ball to the hometown hero and often golden-armed Head.
With his speed dealer sunnies safe in the hands of the umpire, the part time off-spinner extracted significant turn straight away, and Root, inexplicably, was defending with his front pad.
The on-field decision was not out, but with no shot offered, it was a very close call, and the Australians sent it upstairs.
Root waited with heart in mouth, before being caught flashing the most sheepish of grins as he survived the review by the skin of his teeth.
But Root’s emotional rollercoaster wasn’t done there. In the very next over, the veteran was caught behind, removed by Cummins for the 13th time in Test cricket.
Root was livid with himself after being dismissed on day four. (Getty Images: Robbie Stephenson/PA Images)
There was no grin of any description in the aftermath of that incident.
Instead, the usually mild mannered batter was seen shouting and stamping in rage before he made his way from the middle with a look of shocked resignation on his face.
5. Lyon leaves Brits baffled
Harry Brook’s reverse sweep brought him undone. (Getty Images: Quinn Rooney)
Zak Crawley and Harry Brook’s partnership had Aussies a little worried.
Ben Stokes could stop playing and pull a Colin Cowdrey-esque return aged 41 and the scar tissue from Headingley 2019 would still be there for Australia.
In the space of 20 deliveries, Nathan Lyon got rid of all three of them.
Having been given some tap by Root and Crawley in his first few bursts, Lyon came back into the attack after Travis Head failed to pull off another miracle, and with his second ball left Brook baffled as a sharply turning ball clipped the leg stump after Brook’s unbalanced reverse sweep.
Brook inexplicably hung around for a peculiar amount of time before finally heading for the showers.
After one wicketless over, Lyon got a look at the skipper Stokes and produced another peach, ripping the ball past the outside edge and hitting the exact same stump in the exact same way.
Stokes stared at the pitch, surely watching the Test match slip away in his mind’s eye.
And if it wasn’t already, it almost certainly was when the third ball of Lyon’s next over skidded past the outside edge of Crawley, and Alex Carey completed a gorgeous stumping.