A REAL FIGHT AT TWILIGHT

Root’s bowlers come out swinging as Smith declines the follow-on

At least it was Australia, in the form of Mitchell Starc, getting tetchy when made to justify why they did not enforce the follow- on after a torrid last session of the third day of the second test.

At least it was Australia, in the form of Nathan Lyon, who were forced to waste time by exaggerating injury to avoid facing another probing over in the Adelaide gloom.

And at least it was England who were posing those questions and landing a few blows on Australia at the end of a day that could have turned into utter humiliation for captain Joe Root. When England were bowled out for 227 — a score that would have been far worse but for a display of real character from debutant Craig Overton — Steve Smith had no hesitation in batting again even though he could have heaped more misery on England under the Adelaide Oval floodlights.

All it succeeded in doing was to give England a sniff of a remarkable victory or, more likely, make Australia fight for a 2-0 Ashes lead that for much of the first three days seemed guaranteed.

Australia ended a tumultuous third day on 53 for four after being forced to face a magnificent display of swing and seam bowling from Jimmy Anderson.

But, crucially, they were 268 ahead and still very much in the driving seat. Goodness knows what damage Australia might have done if England had been sent straight back in but that is conjecture.

Smith, Australia’s captain, who did not consult his bowlers before he made the thoroughly modern but totally conservative call, clearly did not take into account day-night cricket’s twilight zone.

Neither the display of guts and gumption that saw Overton continue a test debut of real promise, nor the superb, late worldclass bowling from Anderson and Chris Woakes, should overshadow what came before.

the damage had already been done. England had suffered another Australian nightmare.

this was an awful batting display from England as, under a bright Adelaide sky, they perished thanks to a series of ill- conceived shots that simply gave away the tremendous opportunity they had here to level this series.

From the moment James Vince played the sort of shot he must have been warned time and again not to attempt in Australia — trying to force Josh Hazlewood through the off-side off the back foot but only edging to tim Paine — England were rabbits caught in the lights. And they were not even switched on then.

What followed was a shambolic display, with England showing no patience and very little application as they succumbed to an Australian attack that, admittedly, has far more pace and, it has turned out, far more spin than England’s.

England’s captain cannot be excused. Root is considered part of the golden quartet of world test batting along with Smith, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson but he is not yet living up to that billing.

Here his attempt to be positive, like so many of his charges, was instead reckless as he attempted a big booming drive off the outstanding Pat Cummins and found the slip cordon rather than the cover boundary.

the tone had been set and at its worst, when England had crashed to 142 for seven, still 300 behind, the possibility of 19 wickets falling in the day, just like West Indies suffered at Edgbaston last summer, and a three-day defeat was real.

Everything Australia touched turned to gold, including a spectacular one-handed return catch from Lyon to send back Moeen Ali and an even better grab off his own bowling from Starc to dismiss Jonny Bairstow.

Bairstow later suffered a finger injury keeping wicket that England hope is not serious. But, it must be stressed, both played poor shots.

Just as rock bottom beckoned along came Overton, who had been the pick of a poor England bowling lot with three wickets on his debut. Now he showed why he enjoys bowling all- rounder status at Somerset.

Starc and Cummins tried to bully Overton but he showed his top order how it should be done in a stand of 66 with Woakes that persuaded Smith not to enforce that follow-on even though England were bowled out 215 behind.

Lyon, almost overlooked before this series began when the dangers to England were considered, was again the most successful bowler. His four wickets took his tally for 2017 to 55 victims, more than any other bowler.

If Smith had more than four bowlers at his disposal he might just have been tempted to put England in again under the lights but as it was we saw another demonstration of what still makes Anderson a master of his art.

England’s record wicket-taker was magnificent in a back-bending 11- over spell that saw him take two wickets while conceding just 16 runs.

And it would have been three if the biggest scalp of them all in Smith had not reviewed what looked like a plumb lbw. the ball had pitched outside leg stump by a fraction.

Smith was not so fortunate when Woakes, finally locating the right length for Australia, claimed him as his second victim to add to the other big wicket of David Warner just before the close with Australia reeling.

there were more angry words as the teams left the field with Root giving a mouthful to Peter Handscomb — his erstwhile Yorkshire team-mate and now one of the Australians England like least. It may be too little, too late but at least Australia were on the back foot. And that could yet be significant.