There were flickers of hope for England on the third day in Adelaide but, like some of the murmurs thrown up by Snicko during this pivotal third Ashes Test, they were never entirely convincing. Instead, courtesy of Travis Head’s hometown hundred, Australia manoeuvred their way into a position of outright dominance.
At stumps the hosts had reached 271 for four and built a lead of 356 runs. As a 53,700-strong crowd filtered out, the majority did so beaming. They had watched Head only further his cult hero-status: an unbeaten 142 from 196 balls meant England would need a record chase on this ground to prevent going 3-0 down in the series.
Exactly an hour earlier the packed stands had been positively humming in anticipation. The village green out the back was deserted and the grass bank at the Cathedral End resembled a mosh pit. Head was on 99 and, after a less eventful day than the two that preceded it, no one was going to miss the big moment.
There was a wobble, Head slicing Jofra Archer low to gully only for the ball to pop out of Harry Brook’s hands. In a series of missed chances for the tourists, here was another to be added to the list. But Head was soon to be seen smiling under that Super Mario moustache, the left-hander having propelled Joe Root for a meaty straight drive for four in the following over to send a roar echoing around South Australia.
As he kneeled down to kiss the pitch in celebration, Head was in effect kissing England’s Ashes ambitions goodbye – although there is a case to say this actually occurred on the second day of the series, when that incendiary 69-ball century at Perth Stadium first broke the spirits of Ben Stokes and his men.
Things certainly unspooled from that point and this third Test may even prove the most telling of the lot. While Stokes and Archer put on a ninth-wicket stand worth 106 runs – scores of 83 and 51 respectively – England’s 286 all out from 87.2 overs in reply to Australia’s 371 pointed to their general state of confusion with the bat. This was the first surface where so-called Bazball might have actually paid off.
England – checks notes – actually won that morning session. Stokes had notched up the slowest half-century of his Test career from 159 balls, Archer the first of his career. And though Mitchell Starc struck with the second new ball, getting it to jag back into Stokes’s off stump, Jake Weatherald being wrongly adjudged lbw to Brydon Carse, and failing to review, left Australia in effect 102 for one at lunch.
Yet with Stokes not bowling all day – for unspecified reasons – and Archer resting up after an initial burst, moments of pressure thereafter proved fleeting. It was here where a frontline spinner would usually earn their corn, allowing the seamers to rotate. But through no fault of his own, Will Jacks has proved a poor pick for this surface, figures of one for 107 from 19 overs underlining the struggle for control.
As Head slowly built a foundation, unconcerned by some elaborate fields, Josh Tongue did get Marnus Labuschagne caught by Brook at slip for 17. But in came Usman Khawaja to settle things down for the second time in the match, with the now 39-year-old calmly milking the spin of Jacks and assisting the man who pinched his opening spot in a stand of 86 runs.
Australia’s only true wobble came after tea when two wickets fell in the space of 11 balls. Khawaja eventually succumbed to a feathered edge off one of many long hops from Jacks. When Cameron Green followed his first innings duck by driving Tongue loosely to Brook second slip on seven, the hosts were 149 for four and 234 ahead.
All that achieved was to make it a South Australian pairing at the crease, Carey following his first innings century with an unbeaten 52 as he and Head plundered 122 runs in the final session. England had arrived in Adelaide tipped to enjoy this surface and perhaps even pull one back. The locals, it turned out, had other ideas.
Ali Martin’s full report to follow ...
