Tea England 5 for 128 (Moeen 22*, Vince 17*) trail Australia 8 for 442 dec by 314 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Whatever the final prognosis, the health of England’s campaign took a major blow in the opening session on day three as they lost four wickets to stumble to 5 for 128 in reply to Australia’s 8 for 442 declared. Never one to mince his words, former England captain Michael Vaughan had said before play that his country needed to win every session today or the Ashes were lost. Two hours later, the word “whitewash” was beginning to cross his mind.
England had started the day at 1 for 29, knowing that a solid day of batting might have dragged them back into the contest. Instead, they lost James Vince from the ninth ball of the day when he tried to force Josh Hazlewood off the back foot and edged behind. It left England at 2 for 31, but it also brought together their two best batsmen as captain Joe Root joined his predecessor Alastair Cook at the crease.
But in trying to play positively, Root fell for 9 when he drove at a fullish delivery from Pat Cummins and edged to third slip, where Cameron Bancroft snapped up the opportunity. Cook at least was looking strong, but even he succumbed to playing a needless stroke when he pushed at an offbreak from Nathan Lyon and edged to Steven Smith at slip on 37.
Dawid Malan, who survived on review early in his innings when Aleem Dar’s lbw decision was overturned due to the bounce extracted by Mitchell Starc, was later done in by that same bounce and carry provided by this Adelaide surface. On 19, Malan failed to negotiate a sharp delivery from Cummins that nipped back in and bounced, taking his inside edge on the way through to the wicketkeeper Tim Paine.
At least by the tea break, England had found some semblance of stability from Jonny Bairstow, who was on 17, and Moeen Ali, who had accumulated a patient 22. But when such scores can be viewed as a step in the right direction, it says rather a lot about the state of the innings. Talk of a whitewash is premature, but England’s immediate goal must be to somehow find a way of stopping this match from spiralling any further out of control.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo