Day 5, second Ashes Test from the Adelaide Oval
Australia looked unstoppable on day five, making light work of England with a series victory now on the cards in Perth.
Hello and welcome to our coverage of the fifth day of the second Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval. England trail by 177 runs with Joe Root (67) and Chris Woakes (5) to resume in the middle.
5.17pm: England’s Ashes despair is Steve Smith’s relief
There was glimmer of hope for England on a beautiful Adelaide afternoon, with two reviews remaining and their skipper still at the crease. But Smith’s decision making was finally vindicated, writes Mike Atherton.
“Within the small matter of 54 balls, just nine bleak overs in all, the DRS scoreline looked very different, given that Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali had both unsuccessfully reviewed decisions that had gone against them, Woakes a caught behind to his second ball of the morning, Ali leg-before to the sixth he faced from Nathan Lyon.
“Worst of all, sandwiched in between them, was Joe Root who had chosen not to review a bottom edge off Josh Hazlewood from the ninth ball of the morning he received.”
Wayne Smith 4.38pm: Marsh Man of the Match as bowlers run riot
What a phenomenal performance from the Australians today, capturing 6-57 in less than a session to dramatically fight back in this Adelaide Test. Smith’s side dug itself a hole yesterday and there would have been plenty of questions asked had England go on to win today. But there was a steely determination about the bowlers today and they were all over the English batsman right from the moment Hazlewood removed Woakes with the second ball of the day.
England captain Joe Root admitted his side hadn’t done itself justice with the way it had batted on the final day, particularly after fighting back so desperately on days three and four to get back into the contest. He dodged the question of whether, with the benefit of hindsight, he would have decided differently about sending Australia in to bat. “It’s easy to say that now,” he said ruefully.
Smith, too, has a tricky question to answer — “Should you have enforced the follow-on?” — and showed he was no less nimble on his feet. “I haven’t thought much about it,” he said. “I would have thought about it had we lost.”
But of course they didn’t and they are now headed to Perth where England’s record is deplorable. While the bowlers did the damage today, it was Shaun Marsh who claimed Man of the Match honours after being the only batsman from either side to score a century in the match.
From every respect ...well, every Australian respect ... it was a wonderful Test, with just under 200,000, an Adelaide Oval ground record, packing into the stadium for one of the most memorable of recent Ashes Tests.
Thank you for your company.
Wayne Smith 4.20pm: Australia take 2-0 series lead
Broad looked like he was there for a good time not a long time and so it proves as he falls victim to Starc, edging behind to Paine for eight and England now are on life-support at 9-224. It was just a thin edge and the keeper did the rest, as he has done for three second innings wickets. Jimmy Anderson had expressed the hope before the start of play that he would not be needed today but here he is, England’s last man.
Bairstow has decided to attack. What else is there to do? So he swats Hazlewood through the covers, helps himself to a single of the last ball of the over and then produces the shot of the day as he puts Starc to the sword with a glorious off-drive.
But there was no escape from the Australian bowlers and the next ball Starc strikes, bowling Bairstow off an inside edge for 36 and England’s resistance comes to an end at 233.
Australia has won by 120 runs and now go 2-0 up in the series.
4.17pm: Starc wraps it up
WICKET! That’s it for Australia, Starc bowling Bairstow as the Aussie quicks do most of the damage in an incredible session on the final day.
4.10pm: Starc at it again
WICKET! Starc — along with his teammates — is on fire, with Broad edging behind for just eight runs. This is it for Australia, Jimmy Anderson at the crease now.
Wayne Smith 4.07pm: Starc’s quick work
Starc wastes no time proving that taking the new ball was the right call, dismissing Overton with his first ball. It wouldn’t matter if England had both referrals left. Overton was dead in front, with the ball-tracker revealing it would have gone on to take the top of middle stump. Overton had hung around for 39 minutes and faced 34 balls but he always looked to be on borrowed time. He swings his bat in disgust as he walks off but the Australians are now on a victory march. The only possible hurdle is Bairstow. He came out to bat at seven in the first innings, eight this time - because of the nightwatchman - but on the evidence of his score of 27 from 49 balls, he surely will be promoted up the order for the Perth Test.
Australia normally welcomes the sight of Stuart Broad, the man they love to bounce, but today all they’s interested in is his wicket. Hazlewood certainly has got the ball swinging. The only trouble is that he’s bowling an excellent line to a right-hander. And Broad bats left-handed. Happily the batsmen take a single and Bairstow comes on strike and immediately Hazlewood puts one straight through him. England has moved on to 8-220, but it doesn’t look like Broad is capable of keeping Starc out for very long. England 8-222, still requiring 132 runs.
3.54pm: Overton gone
That is PLUMB! #Ashes#ohwhatafeeling @Toyota_Aus pic.twitter.com/i14Rv78ZOf
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) December 6, 2017
WICKET! After copping a ball to the ribs from Cummins earlier, Overton was sent back to the stands, out lbw to Starc for just seven. That new ball did the trick. Stuart Broad comes to the middle. Doesn’t look like this one will last much longer.
Wayne Smith 3.45pm: New ball calling
Overton probably felt Cummins was going to send down a bouncer to him. He probably would have done the same after hitting a streaky four just out of the reach of a diving Smith at second slip. But Cummins is not a bowler to second-guess because he pitched up on a good length, only for Overton to duck straight into it. The ball hit him at around 142kph right on the rib cage and he slumps to the ground. The physio rushes out and the first thing he checks is that Overton’s ribs are not broken.
Cummins, who could easily have had four or five wickets by now, suffers more ill-luck as Cameron Bancroft puts Overton down at third slip. Actually, it’s more a kamikaze slip position as he is fielding fully 2 metres closer to the bat than Smith. The only trouble is that the ball comes to him at lightning pace, bursting straight through his hands and onto the turf. England promptly pass another milestone as Bairstow works Lyon for a single and now the target is 154. Bairstow looks like he is up for a scrap but Overton is using up his luck fast, this time edging the luckless Cummins just short of Usman Khawaja in the gully. It could be time for a change of tactics - and the new ball will be available in just two more overs to make that possible.
3.30pm: Drinks called as Overton cops one to the ribs
That didn’t look great for the English all-rounder.
OUCH! #Ashes pic.twitter.com/mc4Bpt85MP
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) December 6, 2017
Wayne Smith 3.24pm: Odds stacked against England
Nathan Lyon joins the party as he traps Moeen in front for just two runs. Is that England’s last hope? They are now 7-188 and have lost 3-12 this afternoon. And what’s more the new ball is due shortly. That’s the fourth time in four innings in this series that he has dismissed his off-spinning counterpart and frankly, Moeen looked plumb. He went down on one knee as he attempted to sweep but the ball zipped off the pitch and hit him in line. England, having already wasted one referral earlier this morning on Woakes, have now used up both reviews as Moeen optimistically went to the third umpire. There was no inside edge and for once the ball was not going to trampoline over the stumps.
Through it all Bairstow keeps fighting but now the first of the England pacemen has joined him in Craig Overton. He top-scored for England with 41 in the first innings and all in all has had a memorable Test debut. It could go down as one of the greatest introductions to Test cricket of all time if he can steer England home from here but the odds surely are stacked against him now.
3.13pm: England collapse is on
WICKET! Nathan Lyon joins in on the fun, Ali gone lbw for 2. Victory now looks all but assured for the Aussies.
Wayne Smith 3.10pm: Root’s heroics now evident
Only now is it sinking in what a wonderful job Root had done for England. He has been, literally, the hope of the side and while he was there England were in with an excellent chance. He will be devastated by his dismissal because he knows the Australians now hold an enoight tormous advantage. And while he probably won’t have reflected on it yet, his habit of not converting half-centuries into three figures has been perpetuated. He has 34 Test 50s but only 13 centuries and England desperately needed him to go “big” today.
Bairstow, in particular, is taking the fight to the bowlers, even if at times he is playing one-handed as he gets a little too exuberant. The victory tally has been reduced to 166, with Bairstow on 10 and Moeen on 2, although Pat Cummins has almost joined the party, beating Bairstow comprehensively with a ball that just deviates past the outside edge. England 6-188.
Wayne Smith 2.55pm: Australia’s crucial breakthrough
The Australians come running from everywhere as Hazlewood makes the critical breakthrough, dismissing Joe Root on his overnight score of 67. Again, it the movement off the pitch that confounds the England captain, who prods forward and can only connect with the under edge of the bat. His head movement tells the tale, with Root looking back over his shoulder as the ball thuds into the gloves of Paine. Let’s give credit here to a man who probably needs a little comfort, Australian captain Steve Smith. His decisions have been second guessed ever since he decided not to enforce the follow-on but he made the decision to open the bowling today with Hazlewood and he has not let him down, grabbing two wickets for one run.
Ironically, Moeen Ali had just taken England to the 177 mark, halfway to the victory total. Granted, he aimed the shot on the off-side and it squirted away for a single to backward square leg but he and the new batsman Jonny Bairstow aren’t going down without a huge fight. Bairstow, indeed, gets his innings underway with an excellent off-drive. England 6-186, with Bairstow 4 and Moeen 2.
2.45pm: Root gone
WICKET! England are on the ropes as Hazlewood strikes again, the England captain edging behind to be dismissed for 67. Huge moment for Australia.
Wayne Smith 2.40pm: Australia’s big start
Sensational start for Australia as Josh Hazlewood grabs the wicket of nightwatchman Chris Woakes from the second ball of the day, caught behind by wicketkeeper Tim Paine. Umpire Aleem Dar takes a moment to consider his decision but in the end he raises his finger. Woakes immediately calls for a review and there is an initial roar from the Barmy Army when nothing comes up on Hot Spot. But their hopes are dashed when Snicko shows that there is a nick as the ball passes the bat. And that’s all the proof the third umpire needs and Woakes has to depart for five, and England is five wickets down for 176. That’s silenced the Barmy Army from the outset, just as they were getting into “Green and Pleasant Land”.
Still, the Australians know that the man they have to remove is England captain Joe Root and he is looking reasonably comfortable against Mitchell Starc. No change in the overnight score, except that the number in the wicket column has risen by one. England 5-176, with the new ball still 16 overs away.
2.30pm: Hazlewood strikes early
WICKET! Massive start for the Australians, with Woakes gone on just the second ball of the day. England elected to review, but the DRS - specifically Snicko - confirmed the umpire’s decision. Hazlewood the man who does the damage. England 5-176.
Wayne Smith 1.19pm: England still in contest
Hi, it’s Wayne Smith reporting on all the action in the Second Ashes Test in Adelaide. It’s day five of the match and who would have thought we would find ourselves in this position.just a day ago. But Australia’s early control of this Test has dramatically eroded and we’re now in a position where England, if not quite back on level terms, are certainly well in the contest. Chasing 354 runs for victory, a tally that has never before been achieved on this ground, they have reached the halfway mark with only four wickets down. And while Joe Root is there - he will resume this afternoon on 67, with nightwatchman Chris Woakes on five - England cannot be written off.
The Australians had a miserable day yesterday, being bowled out for 138, playing loosely if not at times recklessly, and then they made three critical errors with referrals - one by not reviewing Alastair Cook being struck on the pads by Josh Hazlewood and then two which they did refer but which brought them no joy. So now they are left without referrals for the first session, with the new ball not due for another hour. Regardless, however, they will attack ferociously, determined to bring home a 2-0 series lead no matter how hard they have made it for themselves.
Andrew Faulkner 1.00pm: Australia still in the box seat
With England still needing 178 runs to square the series in Adelaide today, the odds are with Australia.
The odds and also history. But while history says England won’t win the second Test, history and drop-in pitches are only recent acquaintances.
All the history of teams chasing targets in fourth innings amount to a hill of beans on the still-hard, still unforgiving Adelaide pitch.
The only variable bounce on display over the past few days has been upwards.
Full-throated appeal after DRS review have been undone by tracking showing the ball sailing over the stumps.
And history is a stranger to the pink ball.
Australia’s best hope to get the six wickets required is for a last-minute discovery of the reverse swing that dominated the Sheffield Shield game here a month ago.
So far it’s been an absent, lamented friend.
The new ball’s due in 18 overs but so far the shiny pink Kookaburra hasn’t done much in daylight.
And today has dawned as the brightest of the match. Batting conditions are ideal.
Much is against the hosts. And much of it is of their own doing.
Their reviews are spent. The follow-on was ignored. They wasted their wickets when the going was good in yesterday’s sunshine.
What’s required is more of the herculean grunt shown by Pat Cummins in willing the ball through Dawid Malan’s hitherto watertight defence last night.
Whether Nathan Lyon can extract enough spin from the true surface will be crucial.
And perhaps the skipper, chastened by earlier errors, might consider fields a trifle less funky than the bodyline-lite and in-out settings he has deployed so far this series.
Ring fields are very much out of fashion these days but they might be just the thing to further build the already extreme pressure on the English batsmen before the second new ball is taken.
For slowing the scoring will sow further doubts in the batsmen and, perhaps, give the wicket a chance to bake enough for it to start playing a trick or two.
12.52pm: T20 no rival to beauty of an Ashes Test
While the shortest format has its place in the game, the “beguiling beauty and compelling complexity” of Test cricket can’t be ignored, writes Steve James.
12.34pm: Are England willing to win at all costs?
There comes a time when a sporting organisation must decide whether winning is everything or if the franchise is built on principles, standards and 24/7 conduct that defines them more than the results of the players who come and go, writes Will Swanton.
Which way will England go?
Andrew Faulkner 12.15pm: Handscomb reflects struggles of youth
As the multitudes file down through the city, picking their way through the poorly-timed roadworks and jumping the puddles in a wet Adelaide week, they pass a nondescript office in a beige street.
Don’t Overlook Mature Expertise, says the shingle outside an employment advocacy service that’s nearly as old as the people it represents. If DOME branched into cricket it would find no shortage of worthy candidates to add to its books.
Some of those old heads might have stanched the flow of wickets that culminated in the hosts being bowled out for 138 yesterday. Ed Cowan, 35, averages 70 this season — and topped the Sheffield Shield aggregate last season — but isn’t a regular in the NSW side.
Gideon Haigh 12.00pm: Did Steve Smith have one eye on Perth?
It has been a big, buoyant, noisy, crowded Test match at Adelaide Oval, with attendance records smashed, a party atmosphere on the Village Green and ample Barmy Army bonhomie. But as dinner neared yesterday, the stands and hills were disarmingly quiet.
An improbable chase was taking shape. Challenging deliveries were eliciting subdued gasps. Tidy overs were occasioning ripples of applause. A visiting journalist in the press box had recourse to Michael Frayn’s line, that the despair he could handle, it was the hope he couldn’t stand.
England had come to Adelaide Oval thinking that it might be their best chance on tour, thanks to the caprices of the pink ball under lights. Little in the Test’s first eight sessions had encouraged that view. They had sent Australia in, squandered two new balls, wasted a succession of starts, conceded the tallest total in day-night Tests and incurred a first-innings deficit of 215.
Trail so far and so long in any other form of sport and there is no chance of coming back; there was barely a chance here. But now Steve Smith was standing at slip wondering if he had made one. Spared the follow-on, in order that Smith might slightly spare his bowlers, England were about 300 runs from equalising a series in which they have struggled all the way to keep up.
Peter Lalor 11.30am: Test defined by maverick calls
Regrets, they’ll have a few, for rarely have decisions not involving player or shot selection weighed so heavily on the course of a Test and the reputations of those involved.
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