2nd Ashes Test: Australia in total control with 282-run lead, England bowled out for 236

England’s Ashes hopes are in shambles following another batting collapse on day three of the second Test against Australia in Adelaide. England fell from 150-2 to 236 all out in response to their hosts’ declared score of 473-9, as a demoralising tour continued. They had earlier collapsed in the first innings of the first Test on a lively, green pitch, but this time they did so in ideal batting conditions. Australia, who led the series 1-0 after the first Test, had the option of enforcing the follow-on in the final session, but instead chose to bat again. David Warner was run out for 13 as the hosts reached 45-1, with a 282-run lead and are in complete control of the Test.

Joe Root and Dawid Malan batted for most of the first session, but Root’s dismissal for 62, caught at slip off Cameron Green, sparked a four-wicket loss for 19 runs in 36 balls. Malan was also caught at slip for 80 before Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler followed in a familiar process for five and nought. Ben Stokes batted for 98 balls for 34 runs, and Chris Woakes made a brisk 24 to provide the only semblance of resistance as Mitchell Starc took 4-37 and Nathan Lyon 3-58.

Stumps on day three in Adelaide ?

The hosts take charge of the contest as their bowlers deliver yet again ?

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Australia was the only team to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win the Ashes in 1936-37. After another dreadful day, England appears to be facing the same challenge. Root and Malan, who shared a stand of 162 in Brisbane, added 123 without fuss in the first session, scoring more comfortably than the Australians the previous days, making what came after inexcusable.

CAMERON GREEN’S BRILLIANT DAY

Green, the impressive all-rounder, first halted the run-scoring before dismissing Root for the second time in as many innings, the England captain poking at a ball he could have left. With the final eight wickets falling for 86 runs, an England middle-order depleted of confidence tamely and steadily slipped to their demise.

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England’s total was nearly half of Australia’s, emphasising the gap between the teams in a series in which English hopes seem to have faded after only seven days. Australia could have asked England to face another 70 minutes of perfect, floodlit bowling conditions, but with more than two days to go, they instead chose to pile on more pain with the bat before attempting to bowl the tourists out for the second time.

Australia had actually performed below par in the first session, with run-scoring opportunities coming more frequently than in the previous Test. With Cummins and Hazlewood out, it was Green, 22, who turned the tide, bowling with pace and noticeable bounce from his towering frame. He was aided by Lyon, who benefited from a change of ends and a hint of turn that will become more important when England bats again

With the door now open, Starc, the senior seamer alongside Michael Neser and Jhye Richardson, found his range to maintain his impressive record with the pink ball. Stuart Broad’s final wicket, caught slashing to cover, is his 50th in nine day-night Tests.