England 286 and 207 for 6 (Crawley 85, Cummins 3-24, Lyon 3-64) need 228 runs to beat Australia 371 and 349 (Head 170, Carey 72, Tongue 4-70)
Although Jamie Smith, who played two scoring shots in 30 balls, and Will Jacks negotiated a pathway to the close, England were still more than 200 runs from their target with four wickets standing as Australia closed in on a decisive 3-0 lead. Barring miracles from the lower order on Sunday, England were set to concede the urn inside just 11 days of cricket.
One of the central tenets of England’s Bazball era has been that they love a chase – the clear lines of a fourth-innings requirement bringing the best out of a mercurial batting unit. At 2-0 down, and needing a win to stay alive in the series, they had clarity in abundance. But even as Adelaide Oval remained on the friendlier side for batting, the size of the task ahead of England became clear as Cummins struck twice in his opening spell either side of lunch.
Ben Duckett’s torrid tour continued as he poked recklessly at his second ball to be taken at slip. Ollie Pope was then given a thorough working over by Cummins and Mitchell Starc, though it took a brilliant catch from Marnus Labuschagne, diving one-handed at second slip, to send him on his way for what may be the last time in Test whites.
England rebuilt through the afternoon with a measured 78-run stand between Crawley and Root. But the immaculate Cummins undid Root once again in his first over after tea. Just as in the first innings, Cummins’ probing around the line of off stump was too much for Root to withstand as he fiddled behind, his anguish apparent as he thumped the back of his bat and stalked from the field.
In truth, there was very little Bazballing from England’s top order as they opted for a more conventional approach – scarred, perhaps, by their misadventures in Perth and Brisbane. Crawley scored one run from his first 28 balls, by which point England were two wickets down, but was rewarded for his patience with his highest return of the series, an innings replete with controlled drives and good judgement. Like Root, he was proactive in sweeping and reverse-sweeping against Lyon, whose initial six-over spell went for 35 and led to Cummins calling on Head.
Crawley and Harry Brook put on another half-century stand, though Brook lived dangerously at times, despite an apparent effort to rein in some of his attacking instincts. He was tied down by Scott Boland bowling with the keeper up, and got away with a miscued ramp that came off the toe of the bat with his stumps exposed; as the ball rolled away to square leg, he also had to swiftly abort an attempted run.
Brook did capitalise on Boland dropping short to cuff a boundary, but his only other four came when reverse-sweeping Lyon – and that shot was to bring about his downfall, losing his shape in ungainly fashion as the ball dipped and spun to clip leg stump. Brook hung around, seemingly bewildered at being bowled, but the message for England was clear.
Lyon now slipped into his groove, removing Ben Stokes for 10th time in Tests with a ripping offbreak that drifted in towards middle and leg before spinning past a forward defensive to hit the top of off. When Crawley overbalanced pushing at one that went on with the arm, Carey’s glovework did the rest. England were 194 for 6 and not even the possibility of rain cutting into the final day could offer any solace, with their winless run in Australia set to extend to 18 Tests.
Australia had resumed on Saturday in a position of control, buttressed by Head’s second hundred of the series and an unbroken partnership with fellow South Australian Carey. They might have had designs on batting until well beyond the lunch break, to extinguish the last embers of English fight – but any declaration speculation was quickly shelved as the innings unraveled after the dismissal of Head.
That ended a stand worth 162 and Carey had other landmarks to consider, pushing Australia’s lead above 400 while moving closer to becoming only the third wicketkeeper to score twin hundreds in a Test. He was stopped short by Stokes – who had seen an lbw decision against Josh Inglis overturned by the presence of an inside edge in his previous over – as a well-directed short ball ended up in the hands of leg slip via Carey’s glove.
Inglis could not make the most of his reprieve, edging Tongue behind as he tried to open the face, and the new ball did for Australia’s tail: Brydon Carse removing Cummins and Lyon with consecutive deliveries before Archer completed the job, a collapse of 6 for 38 lifting English spirits – for all of eight balls.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
