eight-wicket margins in the opening two Tests<\/a>, the Australians are on the cusp of retaining the Ashes for a fifth consecutive series \u2014 in just 11 days of cricket.<\/p>\n“They’re a very, very good side,” Crawley said.<\/p>\n
“It was always going to be tough coming up here against them.<\/p>\n
“And they were the favourites going into it and they have proven why \u2014 they have played very, very well and made it very hard for us.<\/p>\n
“Obviously we have been slightly short of our best. But a lot of credit has to go to them, they have not allowed us to be our best really.<\/p>\n
“They have bowled very well and haven’t given us a lot \u2026 it’s hard to play that way that we have in the past, perhaps \u2014 and to their credit for that.<\/p>\n
![\"GettyImages-2252792669\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/29768161553ec36d3827b52f284c6c86\")
<\/p>\n
Ollie Pope watches as Josh Inglis dives to stop the ball at the Adelaide Oval. (Getty Images: Robert Cianflone)<\/p>\n
“They have set good fields and it is just an attritional style of cricket over here, it’s not easy to score quickly.”<\/p>\n
Crawley, who made 85 on the fourth day of play, accepted that explanation sounded simplistic.<\/p>\n
But he didn’t accept criticism of some underperforming teammates.<\/p>\n
His opening partner, Ben Duckett, can’t appear to leave the ball, caught in slips again \u2014 he has 97 runs at 16.16 this series.<\/p>\n
The world’s number one-ranked batsman Joe Root (219 at 43.80) and captain Ben Stokes (165 at 27.50) fumed after Saturday’s failures \u2014 39 and five respectively.<\/p>\n
Vice-captain Harry Brook (173 at 28.83) went to water again, bowled attempting a bizarre reverse sweep.<\/p>\n
And first-drop Ollie Pope (125 at 20.83) faces excommunication from the team but Crawley bristled at the criticism heaped on his mate.<\/p>\n
For comparison, Australian fast bowler and number eight batter Mitchell Starc has 150 runs at an average of 50.<\/p>\n
“That is just cricket to be honest,” Crawley said of the lean returns from Pope, who averages 16 from 12 Test innings in Australia.<\/p>\n
“I have had lots of tough times, so has everyone in that change room, so has everyone who has ever played cricket.<\/p>\n
“I feel like Popey gets a hard time sometimes, I’m trying to work out why.<\/p>\n
“He has played really well in the last year, he has got big hundreds when we needed him to against tough opposition.<\/p>\n
“Yeah, he’s had a couple of quiet games. But I think he’s an unbelievably good player and he plays a really hard role.<\/p>\n
“Obviously he’s wanting more for himself than he has got, but you can’t underestimate some of the good knocks he has played.”<\/p>\n
Crawley also all but admitted defeat despite the four wickets in hand in today.<\/p>\n
“The last two (Tests) \u2014 we haven’t won a Test here in a while so it’s a chance to win those two Tests,” he said.<\/p>\n
Bazball or no, England no match for Australia<\/a><\/p>\nEngland’s belated abandonment of Bazball gives it temporary life, but reveals a painful truth \u2014 no version of this team is a match for the soon-to-be victorious Australians.<\/p>\n
“If we can get it back to 3-2, suddenly it’s a pretty good series. We were this close.”<\/p>\n
It was a comment that didn’t sit well with ABC Sport’s Jason Gillespie and Darren Lehmann.<\/p>\n
“I just found the words a bit staggering. You’re gonna be 3-0 down, ‘but if we win the last two Tests it’s 3-2 and that’s a pretty good tour’,” Gillespie said.<\/p>\n
“No, I’m sorry. You lost the Ashes. That’s just nonsense talk.”<\/p>\n
Lehmann agreed that it sounded like Crawley had almost given up on the Adelaide Test.<\/p>\n
“It was surprising,” Lehmann said.<\/p>\n
“Yes it’s going to be tough work. I’m not saying they’re going to get there but what I was surprised about is they almost admitted defeat.”<\/p>\n
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