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Captain Pat Cummins has helped lift Australia closer to Ashes glory with a crucial three-wicket haul on a controversial day in Adelaide that saw Nathan Lyon edge past Glenn McGrath’s career Test wicket tally.
England’s diabolical tour descended into further chaos as they finished day two on 8-213, well short of Australia’s 371, which featured a valuable half-century from Mitchell Starc.
Jofra Archer finished with a five-wicket haul, but only after being told off by captain Ben Stokes for not bowling straight enough during a wayward start to the second morning that set the tone for the tourists.
Ironically, the pair added a handy 9th wicket unbeaten 45-run partnership late to salvage some pride, but there is still a mountain to climb.
If there was one day England’s much-vaunted top order needed to fire, it was day two under a blazing Adelaide sun.
Instead, an antithesis of Bazball unfolded as the visitors slumped to 4-71 when Joe Root feathered Cummins through to Alex Carey for 19, having survived a similar chance on one when a catch fell short of the wicket-keeper, who had another fine day by picking up five catches.
Root cut a frustrated figure as he walked off, having managed 42 runs across the four innings that weren’t his century in Brisbane.
Cummins’ comeback match began quietly - three wicketless overs and 17 runs conceded - before swinging decisively when he nicked off Zak Crawley (9) and eventually finished with 3-54.
Pat Cummins takes the big wicket of Joe Root in Adelaide on day two. Credit: Getty Images
DRS drama also flared up as Jamie Smith found himself on both sides of the equation, eventually out caught behind for 22 amid plenty of confusion.
Players from both sides have so little confidence in Snicko, prompting Mitchell Starc to yell out: “Snicko needs to be sacked. That’s the worst technology ever.”
It will take a miracle for England to win the Ashes now. They must haul themselves back into this match, overturn a likely deficit en route to a famous victory, then win in Melbourne and Sydney - having secured one victory on Australian soil in the past 15 years.
Like Brisbane, Stokes took his ego out of the game and knuckled down, crawling at a strike rate of 29.8 that this same team would have once sniggered at a few years ago as they regularly rollicked along at better than a run a ball.
England captain Ben Stokes gathers himself during a drinks break on day two.Credit: Getty Images
By stumps, Stokes had reached 45 off 151 balls, having battled cramps.
“I know his strike rate is down, but it’s very hard to row an 11-man boat by yourself,” said former Australian coach Justin Langer in commentary for Channel Seven.
“He’s trying so hard for his team. He’s talking about working hard, fighting hard. He just has no-one going with him. In contrast, Australia have 11 guys all working together.”
Whether it was Cameron Green striking with his second ball - finding Harry Brook’s edge for 45 - or Scott Boland sending down a sensational spell of 2-1 from five overs in 40 degree heat, Australia’s blueprint of staying calm worked a treat.
The Bazball reign, meanwhile, is in shambles, with Stokes’ heated exchange with Archer epitomising a camp clinging on.
“Those images of that heated [Stokes and Archer] exchange sums up what the tour has been for England,” retired great Adam Gilchrist said on Fox Cricket.
“They came in with this game plan … that they have stuck by for so long, but it has literally disintegrated in basically seven and a half days of cricket.
“There is uncertainty and disagreements about what the plan should be.”
The English mood was best summed up by broadcaster Piers Morgan, who declared after day one of the series that Stokes was the greatest Englishman since Winston Churchill.
“Right, no mucking around England,” Morgan wrote to his 8.6 million followers on X. “I want these last two wickets taken asap, and I want 400 on the board by close. Flat pitch, hot day, no excuses.”
Six hours later, with England in disarray, Morgan wrote: “FFS” alongside three red angry-face emojis.
It took Lyon 165 days to take his 563rd Test wicket - drawing level with McGrath - but just another three minutes to move into outright second on Australia’s all-time list behind Shane Warne (708).
Lyon was “filthy” at missing out in Brisbane but backed up his pre-Test declaration that he had no point to prove by spinning a web and dismantling Ollie Pope (three) and Ben Duckett (29) within three balls, prompting McGrath in the commentary box to pretend he was throwing a chair in anger.
The chair gag was cooked up with former Australia pace bowler Damien Fleming, but truth be told, McGrath was brimming with pride as Lyon finished the day with 2-51 from 22 overs.
“What a bowler. Nathan Lyon deserves to get that,” McGrath said on the BBC.
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