England’s hopes of reclaiming the Ashes were all but over as Australia once again displayed a disastrous batting performance and were able to take complete control of the third Test.
England appeared to have the upper hand on the second morning, claiming the two wickets they needed to beat Australia for 371 on the flat pitch of Adelaide Oval, but the tourists once again fell short as they trailed at 213-8 at the end after further Snicko controversy.
Australia won the first two Tests of the five-match series and need only a draw to qualify for the Ashes, but closed out their chances of victory by leading by 158 points with three days remaining in sweltering weather that reached 41 degrees on Thursday.
England’s only notable resistance came from Harry Brook (45), before captain Ben Stokes (45) and Jofra Archer (30) shared an unbeaten 45, leaving a glimmer of hope for the tourists.
England have struggled with the application of snicco for the second day in a row, with Jamie Smith (22) controversially sent off after being overtaken after a review, but the technique’s obvious shortcomings are little more than a footnote.
Australian captain Pat Cummins made his return after missing the first two Tests due to injury and was impressive with 3 wins and 54 losses, picking up the vital wicket of Joe Root.
Ben Stokes (right) and Jofra Archer battled for 45 points to lead England to victory.
Spinner Nathan Ryan, on his return to the team after the defeat in Brisbane, hit a double in his first over to move him ahead of Glenn McGrath, who is second on Australia’s all-time Test wicket-takers list, with only Shane Warne ahead of him.
Scott Boland (2-31) continued his good series with more accurate bowling and Cameron Green took a vital wicket for Brook, while Mitchell Starc had a quiet day without a wicket for the left-hander who carried Australia’s attack in the first two Tests.
Defeat in England’s games and series over the next few days seems inevitable, but there will be big questions over the futures of captain Stokes, head coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key.
England’s top order collapses
The day started in frustrating fashion for England as Australia added 45 runs to their overnight total of 326-8 with Starc, 54, bowled by Archer for the first time in his half-century.
The England quick ended up trapping Lyon (9) lbw to end the innings, but a heated on-field argument with captain Stokes following Starc’s dismissal threatened to overshadow what was an impressive return of 5-53.
Australia’s Taille’s morning success at least appeared to once again demonstrate the quality of the batting conditions, which was also reflected in England’s opening team racing to 37th place without a loss in their first seven overs.
Ollie Pope softly answered Nathan Lyon.
However, Crawley gave the home side the breakthrough by connecting Cummins’ excellent pass to centurion Alex Carey in Australia’s first innings, although he could have left it long.
Cummins then revealed his captaincy as his decision to throw on Lyon just before lunch was instantly rewarded. Ollie Pope (3) hastened England’s arguably impending exit from the set-up by shockingly chipping a regulation delivery to Josh Inglis at midwicket.
Duckett, 29, who started the innings well, handed the Lyon beauty his 564th dismissal in the second half of the over when he curved into the off-stump over the outside edge and past McGrath.
Australia captain Pat Cummins celebrates Joe Root’s key wicket
With England leading 42-3, Root was lucky to survive moments later when he inside edged Borland’s pass to Carey with a through ball to Carey, but replays were inconclusive and upheld an on-field not-out decision.
The reprieve did not last long as Root suffered a come-from-behind defeat against Cummins just after lunch, leaving England 71-4.
Stokes and the relatively cautious Brook made a steady effort to rebuild, but the latter meekly fell apart when the all-rounder bowled his first over just before the start of the match, allowing a green-to-carry nick.
Smith at the center of new Snikko controversy
As with the previous day, the action in the final session was overshadowed by a notable failure of the Snicko technology used to aid the third umpire’s decisions.
Carey was reviewed for being late on Wednesday and was incorrectly ejected. BBG Sports, the company that runs Snikko, admitted after the event that the wrong stamp microphone was used, resulting in a large lag in synchronization between audio and video, leading to an incorrect decision.
England’s Jamie Smith sent off following another controversial Snicko review
In the Carry incident, the problem was exacerbated by the use of the wrong microphone on Striker’s side, but Snicco has experienced synchronization issues throughout the series even when the correct microphone was used on Striker’s side.
That shortcoming was first exposed on Thursday when the then 16-year-old Smith clearly hit the glove on a ball to Usman Khawaja at slip, and the only question for most onlookers was whether the ball had made it to the fielder.
Although replays quickly showed the ball bounced, rendering the contact with Smith somewhat irrelevant, third base umpire Chris Gaffaney spent considerable time trying to determine whether the ball hit the glove or the helmet, and synchronization issues between the photo and Snicko that showed Carey being mistakenly called out on Wednesday caused confusion.
Australian players were embarrassed by Snikko
Although Gaffaney incorrectly determined that the ball hit Smith’s helmet instead of his glove, he reached the correct conclusion that at least he was not out.
Unfortunately, Snicko was called for again shortly after Australia complained of a catch-behind when Smith tried to play a short pass from Cummins, but the situation was complicated by the umpires wanting to see if the ball went to Carey.
This apparently happened this time, although it is unclear whether the field umpire actually sent off Smith, and Gaffany ruled for Snicco, even though neither team had explicitly initiated the review process that led to Snicco’s use.
Stokes overcame cramps to fight England to the end
There was a spike on Snicko after the ball passed his bat, but various close-up replays showed no obvious deviation. So it came as a surprise to England when Smith, 22, threw up his hands in disgust and the word ‘out’ appeared on the screen.
Boland unsurprisingly scalped Jacks (6 points) and Kearse (0 points) moments later to reduce England to 168-8, before a spasmodic Stokes and counter-attacking Archer thwarted Australia in the sunset.
Ashes Series in Australia 2025-26
Australia leads series 5 games 2-0
