Ashes 2021-22: Australia continues its domination over England in Ashes annihilation

Australia landed the most painful blow on Joe Root and his team with the last ball of day four as Mitchell Starc put the Aussies on the cusp of a 2-0 Ashes lead. 

Mitchell Starc hit Joe Root where it hurts the most, but the greater pain came from an outside edge off the last ball of the night to leave England on the verge of Ashes humiliation.

First there was India’s Adelaide 36ers and now there’s the 49ers, for the number of England batsmen to have fallen for nought in their Year of the Duck.

Australia looks set to wrap up a 2-0 series lead on Monday as England’s Christmas turkeys prepare to bring up 50 Test match ducks for the calendar year and potentially give their own 1998 world record of 54 a shake.

But not even the unwanted milestone could churn the stomach as much as the eye-watering scenes in the shadows of stumps on Sunday night, when Root was left in agony after copping a 142km/h fast ball from Mitchell Starc straight to the box.

Root started the day being hit in the testicles as he faced throwdowns from the spin bowling coach without a protector; another chapter in the tour diary of a series where everything that could go wrong, is.

HUGE FINISH‼️
Root has to go and that’s stumps.#Ashes pic.twitter.com/ihk9Kp4vaJ

— News Cricket (@NewsCorpCricket) December 19, 2021

A scan of Root’s nether regions cleared him to take guard, but it ceased being a laughing matter – at least for a few minutes – when Starc crunched him in a sickening blow that at one point it seemed he may not rise up from.

Australian vice-captain Travis Head said he had "a lot of sympathy" for Root.

"We got told to give him some space so we kept well away. With the day that he’d had it wasn’t a great time to get hit," Head said.

Fox Cricket’s spider cam was asked to move away as Root nervously checked everything was in place and Nathan Lyon cheekily suggested a packet of “frozen peas” might do the trick.

But Root will need something much stronger now, after the pink ball king got the key wicket in the final over of play to leave England reeling at 4-82, and still 386 runs away form a miracle that surely not even Ben Stokes (3 not out) can conjure.

Captain courageous Root contrasts the 49 ducks of the team with his personal record of 1600 Test runs this year, showed enormous ticker but his departure has made it almost impossible for England to bat through 90 overs on day five and save the Test.

Embattled opener Rory Burns already has six ducks himself – the most ever by a Test opener in a single year – but on Sunday night under lights he waddled his way out of Starc’s clutches to 34 only to become Jhye Richardson’s second victim as an Ashes crisis beckons.

Opener Haseeb Hameed departed for his third duck of the year to give returning quick Richardson his first Test wicket since January 2019, before the West Australian struck again to get Burns nicking to Steve Smith at second slip.

Earlier in the day as Root iced his groin, stand-in captain Ben Stokes was forced to ask fast bowler Ollie Robinson to moonlight for some overs as an off-spinner and not even the sun glasses he wore while bowling could mask the misery of England’s Benny Hill-style misfortunes.

There were moments of pink ball magic for England to start day four, as Australia lost three quick wickets to be 4-55, but the red faces soon returned as local hero Head (51 off 54) and Marnus Labuschagne (51) cashed in again with superb half centuries to set the home side up almost to perfection.

After some free swinging from the tail Australia declared at 9-230, setting England a world record chase of 468 to win.

There was some anxiety when Starc reeled away in pain while batting, attempting to slog one out of the ground, but the fast bowler kept swinging on either side of receiving treatment from the doctor and physio and appeared to bowl without trouble.

Marcus Harris (23) put himself at risk of being axed as an opener in the middle of a winning series, but it took a superb full-reach grab from Jos Buttler to send him on his way for yet another unconvincing score.

The painful moment Joe Root was struck by Mitchell Starc.

In an incredible sequence of events, Steve Smith should have followed Harris out from the very next ball to put Stuart Broad on a hat-trick, only for Buttler to shell the easier of the two chances, diving not quite as far to his right.

To cap off the mayhem, Broad appeared to have Smith trapped lbw the next ball after that, only for the umpire to remain motionless and the Australian captain to escape on captain’s call when England’s mystified spearhead sent his appeal up to DRS.

Smith survived his own personal hat-trick, but it mattered little because he was out for just 6 anyway – thanks to another screamer from Jekyll and Hyde Buttler.

The Australian team looks at England batsman Joe Root (R) after he was struck by a delivery from Australia's Mitchell Starc.

RECAP ALL THE KEY MOMENTS FROM DAY FOUR BELOW. 

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