England's hopes in smoke

ADELAIDE • Australia yesterday ground down a battling England to win the second Test and go 2-0 up in the Ashes series, leaving the visitors' dreams of winning back the hallowed urn in tatters.

The visitors resumed day five of the pink-ball Test in deep trouble at 82 for four chasing a massive 468 to win, realistically needing a miracle just to salvage a draw.

They gamely hung on into the final session, fighting a desperate rearguard action until ultimately, crumbling to be all-out for 192 and crashing to a 275-run defeat, with Jhye Richardson the pick of the hosts' attack with 5-42.

England slumped to defeat by nine wickets in the first Test at Brisbane and the loss this week means their hopes of winning back a trophy they last secured on Australian turf in 2010-11 are all but over.

Joe Root's men will head to Melbourne for the third Test, which starts on Sunday, knowing that the only instance of a team coming from 2-0 down to win the Ashes was Donald Bradman's Australia way back in 1936-37.

The England captain said: "The reason it's disappointing is because we made the same mistakes (from the first Test). We could have bowled a lot fuller, and with the bat we need to be better, make bigger scores and apply better.

"The second innings is the attitude and desire we need. It's frustrating because we know we are better. Lessons learnt, we have to be better in the next game."

With Root, the world's top-ranked Test batsman, removed by Mitchell Starc in the final over on Sunday, the tourists' slim hopes rested with all-rounder Ben Stokes. But trying to nurse England's batting through 90 overs against Australia's relentless bowling was too big a task, even for him.

He put his head down and lasted 77 balls for 12 runs before Nathan Lyon struck. Jos Buttler (26) and Chris Woakes (44) dug in, frustrating the favourites in a 61-run stand before Richardson clattered the latter's stumps.

Ollie Robinson made a dogged eight before Australia stand-in skipper Steve Smith took his sixth catch of the match to dismiss him off Lyon, before Buttler incredibly fell after surviving nearly 35 overs by stepping on his own stumps.

"We wanted to stay calm because we knew it would take a couple of good balls and a couple of wickets to get the win," Smith said.

"I had fun this week, enjoyed it. The guys played well, controlled the game from the first day."

England's chances of victory had been nigh on impossible - no team had posted such a big fourth-innings score to win in Test cricket history, with the West Indies' 418 for seven in beating Steve Waugh's Australia at St John's in 2003 the highest.

Their recovery looks just as improbable in the third Test as pace spearheads Pat Cummins - the captain was a late scratch in Adelaide after being classified a close contact of a Covid-19 patient - and the injured Josh Hazlewood are in line to return at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE