Australia remain pink perfect, England lose Ashes plot again
ADELAIDE, (Reuters) - England have not won an Ashes series in Australia since 2010-11, and their decade of drought Down Under is almost certain to continue after Joe Root's team slipped 2-0 behind their nemesis yesterday.
Unlike in the series opener in Brisbane, England managed to take the day-night second test to its final day, but the nature of their 275-run defeat was equally deflating.
It came against an Australia side depleted by the absence of regular skipper Pat Cummins, withdrawn hours before the match for being a close contact of a positive COVID19 case, and the injured Josh Hazlewood.
England's second successive loss was a matter of when and not if after Australia set them an improbable victory target of 468 and made early dents with the pink ball.
Jos Buttler, who dropped catches behind the stumps, tried to redeem
himself with a dogged 26 off 207 balls in an obdurate rearguard spread over more than four hours, but could not gloss over England's batting frailties as they folded for 192.
England brought back veterans James Anderson and Stuart Broad, sacrificing the express speed of Mark Wood, in an all-seam attack but the move did not really pay off.