England stared into the course of another sad defeat on Saturday, rejected for 236 and then forced to watch as Australia struck again and extended their lead in the day-night second Ashes Test in Adelaide. Joe Root and Dawid Malan had survived the opening session of day three unscathed, building a 128-run tie as they chased Australia’s mighty first innings 473 for nine.
But it all came crashing down after the dinner break, with both players being removed in quick succession, Root for 62 and Malan for 80, leading to a collapse with England collapsing from 150 for two to 236. To make matters worse, they did. she did that against a second-string attack with Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood both missing.
Stand-in Australian skipper Steve Smith could have forced the sequel, but chose to rest his bowlers and send the openers in to start turning the screw with two more days to go.
They negotiated some 75 minutes for David Warner’s 13 loss, needlessly running out after a disastrous mix-up with Marcus Harris, who remains undefeated at 21.
Night watchman Michael Neser was in second place when Australia reached 45 for one, extending their lead to 282.
Mitchell Starc’s hostile pace and Nathan Lyon’s dangerous spin wreaked havoc on England, complemented by Cameron Green, who brought in Root for a second consecutive time. Starc claimed 4-37 and Lyon 3-58.
“It’s quite frustrating and disappointing – to lose two wickets like we did on Friday night, and then put us back in a position where we could get within easy reach of them,” said Malan.
“In the end, Rooty or myself should have gone ahead and got a big hundred.”
Australia ‘hold the cards’
England crashed by nine wickets in the first Test in Brisbane and if they fall 2-0 in Adelaide the Ashes are all but gone and must win all three remaining Tests.
Australia threw replay girls at the start of the second session and Root looked increasingly awkward against Green, who was starting to get some movement with the pink ball.
After getting through 1,600 test runs in a calendar year – only the fourth player in history to do so – Root jabbed in a Green delivery and gave Smith a head start on slip, still leaving him looking for an elusive very first century in Australia .
Malan soon followed, hitting a lightning bolt from Starc that took a dent, again in the safe hands of Smith. Malan has now scored nine Test 50s but converted only one in a century.
“We let it wander a bit in the first session,” said Starc, praising all-rounder Green.
“He’s a serious talent for a young boy, he’s a great addition to our bowling attack, he was extremely good in that session after the break.”
Starc added: “We have all the cards in hand as to when we want to bowl and how big of a lead we want to get, we certainly have a few options on the table.”
As in Brisbane, England’s at bat was folded. Ollie Pope survived a bat-pad assessment but only lasted two more balls, descending the wicket to Lyon and shoving to Marnus Labuschagne with a short leg on five.
Jos Buttler fell without scoring for Starc and England trudged onto the tea at 197 for six.
It wasn’t long before Australia cleaned up the rest with Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson also being undone by Lyon, and when Ben Stokes was thrown for 34 by Green it was almost over.
Bright start
England had resumed at 17 for two after losing openers Rory Burns (four) and Haseeb Hameed (six) to a fiery 40-minute spell of Starc, Neser and Jhye Richardson under lights on Friday night.
Root strode out on five, next to Malan on one.
They had perfect early hitting conditions on a flat field in Adelaide and Root settled in and hit a well timed drive for four to boost his confidence.
Starc got 11 of his first over and the pair quickly brought up their 50 partnership.
promoted
Malan completed his 50 with a single off Neser, while Root Richardson hit the limit, reaching his 52nd half century.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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