After only eight days’ cricket, Ben Stokes has been left contemplating the grim path trodden by every other England captain in these parts since Andrew Strauss defied convention fifteen years ago. He arrived with high hopes of joining an elite club, made up of what he called “the lucky few” Ashes-winning captains, but, on a brutal second day in Adelaide, he cut an embattled figure instead like so many before him.
Read more: Embattled Ben Stokes fights alone as England top order reduced to ruins
Lyon: I just do the basics
Nathan Lyon, the Australia spinner, speaking to TNT Sports: “It’s been nice to contribute and finally get into the series.
“I just bowl my best and do the basics really well. There’s no secret behind what I do, it’s just about doing the basics for a long period of time and create a bit of pressure.
“Pretty proud about how the boys went about it. Pat [Cummins] has been phenomenal as captain as always, but the effort from our fast bowlers to get them 213-8 off 68 overs it’s a pretty big effort so rest up, recover and we’ll have another crack in the morning.”
Trescothick: We can’t dwell on Snicko controversy
Asked about the controversy with Snicko, Trescothick added: “We are disappointed but we are in a situation where we don’t want to get drawn into it too much. We want consistency with any technology that both teams will have. But you have to respect the officials’ decisions. We can’t dwell on it too much, we can’t get those runs back from [Alex] Carey or change what happened with [Jamie] Smith.
‘Australia made it hard for us’
Here’s what Marcus Trescothick, the England batting coach, had to say about the day’s play in Adelaide:
“We are in a position we don’t want to be in. We are still fighting and still in the game and try to make something happen tomorrow and capitalise on ten overs of the old ball. We haven’t been at our best for long bits of the game.
“They [Australia] bowled well, the areas they hit, it looked a good pitch and was going to be consistent but credit to them, they’ve made it hard for us.”
Ben Stokes just sees out the final over of the day from Nathan Lyon to bring the action to a close.
It’s been very much Australia’s day and they’ve England well and truly on the ropes, but a superb effort at the end from the captain and Jofra Archer.
England trying to see out day
The 67th over by Cameron Green ends in a maiden. With only a couple of overs left, it looks like Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer are just trying to see out the rest of the day now.
Ben Stokes is in some discomfort — cramping up and then an inside edge on to the thigh, which has him hopping about (Elizabeth Ammon writes).
Not surprising he’s cramping — it’s a scorching hot day and he’s been on the field for most of it.
Jofra Archer can’t really be faulted this match. He’s taken a five-wicket haul and is now scoring some runs — his full intention is not to be bowling again tonight.
QUINN ROONEY/GETTY IMAGES
This is a good effort from Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer and they help England reach 202 after 62 overs, trailing by 169 runs.
Archer has a small scare as he tried to go big on the leg side and it falls just short of the two deep fielders out there.
With Cameron Green back on, Archer tries to take him on with a pull towards the short square boundary but he doesn’t get hold of it. Marnus Labuschagne dives forward to try to make the grab but it goes under him and crosses the rope for four.
DARRIAN TRAYNOR/GETTY IMAGES
Valuable runs from Archer
Jofra Archer was the standout bowler for England in the first innings and he is now providing some very valuable runs batting at No10.
He is now 20 off 26 balls and that has played some lovely shots.
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People are waking up in the UK and social media is lively (Elizabeth Ammon writes). Understandably there are some very, very frustrated England fans.
One posted on X: “Snicko is not fit for purpose. Just like England’s batting, bowling and fielding”.
Small bit of comfort for England on a day short of positives — Jofra Archer finds the boundary with a brilliant drive through cover to take England’s deficit under 200 meaning they have officially avoided the follow-on.
Looks like England will be bowling at both the start and end of the day and it’s a sorry, sorry tale as Brydon Carse departs for a duck (Elizabeth Ammon writes).
Scott Boland is such a lesson to England’s bowlers — and indeed all seam bowlers — about accuracy. That was a length ball at off stump — old school — and it goes past the edge and takes the top of middle and off.
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceShould England bring in Bethell?
Yes — it turns out I was massively straw clutching and this series as a live contest is just about over (Elizabeth Ammon writes).
There will be a lot of talking points — not least: is Ollie Pope now done and should they bring in Jacob Bethell for the next one? Pope looks fried and that shot he played today was horrendous.
Alex Carey, on the other hand, is absolutely at the top of his game at the moment and has not put a foot wrong with the gloves throughout the series. The value of a good gloveman cannot be overstated.
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England are in real trouble now, with Will Jacks the latest man to go after falling to Scott Boland for six.
The batsman plays on to his pads and it sits up nicely for Alex Carey, standing up at the stumps, to take a simple catch.
Brydon Carse joins Ben Stokes.
Jacks needs to play innings of his life
Will Jacks is going to have to play the innings of his life here (Elizabeth Ammon writes). We saw last Test match, he’s got it in him to dig in and battle it out in partnership with Ben Stokes, his skipper. They lasted a session together in Brisbane. If — and it’s a big if — these two can get to stumps, perhaps there’s just a hint of hope — or am I majorly straw clutching?
Astonishing performance from Smith
Jamie Smith had decided he was going to take on the short square boundaries — the ones Brendon McCullum had said beforehand Smith would like — but Australia posted three men out for the hook or pull and Smith still went for it (Simon Wilde writes). Why?
Sure enough, he fell attempting another pull. It’s an astonishing performance from Smith when Stokes — who had called on his players to fight — wants someone to stay with him with a ball that is 45 overs old. It should be a good time to bat, but few of these England players seem capable of doing so.
Amid all the furious reaction to Jamie Smith’s wicket, Will Jacks has now joined Ben Stokes in the middle and he has a nervy moment just before drinks as he fends Nathan Lyon’s ball towards Travis Head can’t hold on at short leg. Would have been a brilliant catch.
Watch: Smith falls for 22
Here is that controversial dismissal for Jamie Smith.
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This is what Sir Alastair Cook had to say about it on commentary: “I was very confused by what the umpires did there. It was given not out on the field — I never saw the finger go up but you wouldn’t send it upstairs if you didn’t think he had hit it not even to check if carried. A comedy of errors”
Steven Finn and Graeme Swann are absolutely steaming about that dismissal (Elizabeth Ammon writes). Finn says there’s no conclusive evidence and that neither England or Australia appeared to formally review it so he’s not even sure what the umpires were asking for.
England can rightly kick up a fuss on this I think. Not that it will make any difference but there’s a point of principle.
Snicko is going to be a talking point again (Elizabeth Ammon writes). It didn’t look like the pictures were in sync again to me but Jamie Smith has been given out after a review, despite the umpire not giving it on the field.
“Without sounding like a whingeing Pom seems like one rule for one and one for another” says Graeme Swann on TNT Sports commentary.
Controversy and the technology really is not working properly at all. I feel a bit for Smith there and England will be fuming.
Another example of Snicko not working properly with that last review against Jamie Smith — there was clearly a syncing issue (Elizabeth Ammon writes). Graeme Swann and Steven Finn both say they think Snicko is just not good enough and that the ultra-edge technology used in the UK is better.
Meanwhile, Australia have turned to short-ball tactics and there are men out and this is where Smith needs to put his happy hooking away for a bit probably.
Australia bowlers accurate, skilful and relentless
Nathan Lyon has bowled beautifully, as has the attack in the round, a complete contrast with England — Jofra Archer apart — the day before (Mike Atherton writes). They have been accurate, skilful and relentless and batting has looked hard work even in this brutal heat and even on this belter of a pitch. By tea, Lyon’s figures were 13-1-33-2 and he had given a masterclass in how to bowl off spin, and the contrast with England’s paucity of options in this department has been laid bare.
For the first time this series, spin has played a significant role. The day has been a suffocating one, with temperatures into the high 30s and the pitch flat, so Nathan Lyon has been as important today to Australia as was irrelevant for the pink ball Test in Brisbane (Mike Atherton writes). Brought into the attack in the ninth over, just before lunch, he took two wickets in his first over, Ollie Pope, caught at mid-wicket to a horrible shot, and Ben Duckett to a beautiful ball that drifted and spun.
He has been the key component of the attack today and has allowed Pat Cummins to rotate the seamers in short bursts. With the wicket of Pope, Lyon equalled Glenn McGrath to become Australia’s joint second highest wicket-taker on 563 wickets and with Duckett’s dismissal — No564 — he occupied that place alone, with only Shane Warne ahead of him.
ASANKA BRENDON RATNAYAKE/REUTERS
Responsibility falls on Stokes again
Cold, dark and grim outside and this is not what England fans want to be waking up to (Elizabeth Ammon writes). There’s a bit of a pressure on Jamie Smith here. He’s a young man who is quite quiet by nature and even Ben Stokes admitted that Smith was surprised by the level of scrutiny and the step up the Ashes is.
There is absolutely no point Smith not playing his natural game here though but jut be a bit smarter about it. This should be a good time to bat, the ball is old and getting softer and the pitch is good and the outfield quick.
But yet again, the responsibility is falling on the captain and he’s got that look in his eye of absolute determination. He’s stepped up a gear since the wicket of Brook but that is probably the right thing to do.
SANTANU BANIK/MB MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES
Jamie Smith goes after Pat Cummins and clears the short leg-side boundary with a brilliant pull shot for six.
The next ball goes behind and looks to be caught at slip — Australia think it’s come off his glove and review. Snicko looks to be playing up again but it there does seem to be contact — it doesn’t matter anyway though as the ball clearly bounced before reaching the fielder. Not sure why that took so long.
Bazball gives way to old-school attrition
England’s collapse after lunch on the second afternoon in Perth had them losing four wickets for 11 in 19 balls and it changed the game for good (Simon Wilde writes). This time they lost three for five in 15 balls, and since that phase shortly before lunch they have been scrapping for their very survival. Apart from one imperious six from Harry Brook over extra cover off Scott Boland, there has been no sign of the once-mighty Bazball methodology. This is old-school attrition.
A grim first two sessions
It has been a grim first two sessions for England on the second day in Adelaide (Simon Wilde writes). Hopes that they might be able to challenge if not surpass Australia’s score of 371 — Jofra Archer picked up the last two wickets to finish with five for 53, though the tail did wag a little for 35 minutes — quickly disappeared as England experienced another of their stomach-churning collapses.
They lost Zak Crawley to a good ball from Pat Cummins before Nathan Lyon, who was left out of the side in Brisbane, made a spectacular return with two wickets in his first over. Ollie Pope looked skittish before inexplicably stabbing a ball to short mid-wicket off the second delivery he had faced from Lyon. Three balls later, Ben Duckett was bowled off stump as he pushed hard looking to defend a ball that spun away.
Worse followed after lunch when Joe Root was caught behind off Cummins. Root had looked reasonably comfortable in what appeared to be good batting conditions, but he was a little tentative against a bowler who has dismissed him 12 times in Tests. Harry Brook played well within himself for 26 overs for 45 before he got a fine delivery from Cameron Green to give Alex Carey a third catch. Ben Stokes, focusing on defence, was 19 off 76 balls at tea, in company with Jamie Smith.
ASANKA BRENDON RATNAYAKE/REUTERS
Root falls shortly after lunch
Pat Cummins struck again shortly after the lunch break, taking the big wicket of Joe Root for 19.
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That left England in real trouble at 71 for four, but Harry Brook and Ben Stokes were able to rebuild with a fifty partnership before Brook fell just before tea.
England lose three wickets before lunch
England needed a big performance from their top order after some poor displays in Perth and Brisbane but, unfortunately for Ben Stokes, they didn’t get it as England slipped to 42 for three.
Zak Crawley was the first to fall for nine, with the returning Australia captain Pat Cummins making the early breakthrough.
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That was before Nathan Lyon did the damage with two wickets in his first over, removing Ollie Pope after a poor shot from the No3 and then Ben Duckett.
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The day had started in a promising way for England as Jofra Archer picked up where he left off yesterday to take the final two Australia wickets as the home side finished 371.
Archer first took the wicket of Mitchell Starc, who made his second half-century of the series before falling on 54, before removing Nathan Lyon for nine to finish with figures of five for 53.
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The scoreboard is not looking great if you’re an England fan. The touring side’s struggles with the bat have continued here and they find themselves 132 for five at tea.
After slipping to 71 for four after 16.4 overs, Harry Brook looked as though he may lead a recovery alongside captain Ben Stokes as they shared a partnership of 56.
However, Cameron Green removed the vice-skipper for 45 just before the end of the afternoon session to strike the hammer blow.
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Hello and welcome to The Times’s coverage of the second day of the third Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval and a must-win match for England if they are to keep their hopes of winning the series alive.
A reminder that Australia finished the opening day Australia 326 for eight, with Jofra Archer the most impressive of the England bowlers. However the day was of course dominated by controversy surrounding Alex Carey, who benefited from an error with technology when edging behind on 72 and went on to make a century.