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England’s Ashes hopes are in a sorry mess after another dismal batting collapse on day three of the second Test against Australia in Adelaide.

Joe Root and Dawid Malan batted throughout the first session but Root’s dismissal, caught at slip off Cameron Green for 62, sparked the loss of four wickets for 19 runs in 36 balls.

Malan was also caught at slip for 80 before Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler followed for five and nought respectively in a familiar procession.

Ben Stokes hung around for 98 balls for 34 runs and Chris Woakes made a spritely 24, the only hint of resistance as Mitchell Starc took 4-37 and Nathan Lyon 3-58.

Australia, 1-0 up in the series after the first Test, could have enforced the follow-on in the final session but instead opted to bat again.

David Warner was run out for 13 but the hosts reached 45-1, already leading by 282 and in complete control of the Test.

England staring down the barrel

The only instance of a team coming from 2-0 down to win the Ashes was Australia in 1936-37. England look likely to be facing the same challenge after another miserable day.

They collapsed in the first innings of the first Test on a lively, green pitch but on this occasion did so in perfect batting conditions – the skies blue and surface docile.

Root and Malan, who also shared a stand of 162 in Brisbane, added 123 without fuss in the first session, scoring more comfortably than the Australians in the previous days, making what followed inexcusable.

First the impressive all-rounder Green brought the run-scoring to a halt before he dismissed Root for the second consecutive innings, the England captain poking at a ball he could have left.

An England middle-order sapped of confidence tamely and steadily slipped to their demise with the final eight wickets falling for 86 runs.

England’s total was almost exactly half of Australia’s – a further suggestion of the gulf between the sides in a series in which English hope has evaporated after only seven days.

Australia could have asked England to face another 70 minutes in perfect, floodlit bowling conditions but, with more than two days remaining, instead opted to pile on more pain with the bat before attempting to bowl the tourists out for a second time.

Yet another collapse

England fans have become used to batting subsidence in recent years – Root’s side have been bowled out for 112 and 81 in India, 122 against New Zealand and 120 against India at home in 2021 alone.

Given the conditions and the fact Australia are without Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, this was up there with the worst.

Root fell in the second of six maidens after lunch and, as the tension grew, Malan followed soon after when he tried to cut Starc but flashed an edge to Steve Smith at slip.

Pope was once again tormented by spin, as he was in India last winter. He looked erratic in his 19 balls and had to overturn a catch at short leg off Lyon on review two balls before he succumbed to the same duo when rushing down the pitch.

Buttler’s bleak Test – he dropped two catches on day one – continued as he wafted a drive with minimal foot movement to Starc and edged to slip for a 15-ball duck.

Stokes at least showed some fight and summoned memories of his Headingley heroics when he started swinging with the tail. In the end he played onto his stumps trying to smash Green through the off side.

More to follow