England’s Ashes hopes vanishing after batters fold again

England's Ollie Pope walks back to the pavilion (ESPNcricinfo)

England’s Ashes hopes are vanishing after they were overwhelmed by Australia amid further Snicko controversy on the second day of the third Test.

In temperatures that touched 41 degrees at the Adelaide Oval, England crumbled to 213 for 8 in blameless batting conditions, leaving them 158 runs adrift of Australia.

This was not a collapse born of Bazball bravado, but a fold in the face of relentless Australian 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 and 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 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 finishing with 5–53 — England’s reply was in tatters at 42 for 3, having 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 in with a painstaking 45 not out from 151 deliveries. He found late support in a stand of 45 with Archer, who was unbeaten on 30.

England, however, were powerless to withstand 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.

At 2–0 down after two matches, this was a defining day for England. Though they began poorly, leaking 45 runs in 8.2 overs, Australia’s total was far from insurmountable.

England had the opportunity to bat themselves back into the series. Instead, it was only Stokes’ defiance that prevented them from being asked to bat twice in the day.

While the Snicko controversy is unsatisfactory for a series of this magnitude, it pales in comparison with the substandard nature of England’s performance.

Smith first survived when the technology adjudged that a Cummins bouncer, which ended at first slip, had come off his helmet rather than his glove. An Australian voice on the field was heard to say: “Snicko should be sacked.”

In the next Cummins over, an aggrieved Smith was given caught behind attempting a wild pull shot. BBG Sports, the operators of Snicko, confirmed to the BBC that they believed both decisions to be correct.

It matters little. Barring something extraordinary, Australia will bat England out of this match on their way to yet another Ashes series win on home soil.

If this really is the end of the Bazball era as we know it, it is symbolic that captain Stokes was in the middle for so much of the day, watching his team crumble around him.

Perhaps the game was up even before Stokes arrived. While Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were undone by superb deliveries from Cummins and Lyon respectively, Pope’s flick at Lyon was foolish and fatal.

Pope has not repaid the faith shown in him as England’s number three. Without a score in the second innings, his place for the fourth Test in Melbourne will be in serious doubt.

Joe Root survived a catch falling short of wicketkeeper Carey before edging long-term nemesis Cummins for 19, leaving Brook and Stokes to battle through the afternoon heat.

Bar a driven six off Boland, Brook played sensibly until he edged Cameron Green’s second ball. Stokes took a sickening blow to the head from Mitchell Starc, yet was not shaken from his watchful vigil.

Cramping after almost four hours at the crease, he at least had a willing ally in Archer — two of the few England players to emerge from this series with their reputations intact. (BBC Sports)