Starc snaps up Root, Australia close in on 2-0 Ashes series lead

On another chastening day of cricket for England where almost nothing went their way, it was rather cruel that the most decisive blow came on the verge of stumps on Day 4. England had already been on the receiving end of several debilitating setbacks. The faintest hopes of a miraculous escape rested on captain Joe Root seeing it through to the end and returning to take guard on the final day of the Adelaide Ashes Test.

It wasn’t to be. Off the second ball of the final over on Sunday, Root (24) nicked Mitchell Starc to wicketkeeper Alex Carey. Australia now need six wickets to take a 2-0 lead while England—tottering at 82/4—have to survive 90 overs. The target of 468 is of mere academic interest.

Root’s dismissal was perhaps triggered by what had transpired an over earlier when Starc, charging in with the pink ball under lights, got one to lift a bit more than usual and thud into Root’s abdomen. Some of the Australian players could see the funny side, but Root was on his haunches, wincing in pain. He got back up after getting some attention but his misery was brought to a swift end.

“Any time one of your best players is out, the team takes a knock but what you have to understand and believe is that the rest of the guys are going to fight as hard as he would,” England bowling coach Jon Lewis told a media conference. “They will try to survive the day tomorrow (Monday) to get out of this game with a draw. It’s a big ask, I know.”

While Root could be excused a rare low score, the other batters are skating on thin ice. Haseeb Hameed endured another failure when a brute of a delivery from pacer Jhye Richardson caught his glove and went through to Carey. Dawid Malan (20) was caught plumb in front by Michael Neser immediately after being dropped by Steve Smith off Nathan Lyon. Opener Rory Burns hung around for a while (34) before edging Richardson to Smith at second slip.

With only Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler—the latter two are down on confidence—to follow among the recognised batters, it is hard to see the visitors salvaging anything from Adelaide. The ball is doing enough now and then for all the four Australia seamers to stay interested while Lyon is extracting sharp turn on a consistent basis.

“It was fantastic to get out of the night session with England four wickets down. They’ve still got some quality players. I think Lyon will play a massive part. The ball is turning,” Australia’s Travis Head said.

Given the spin that the surface is taking now, Australia’s decision to bat again rather than enforce the follow-on seems justified. When Australia were reduced to 55/4 in the first session on Sunday after resuming on 45/1, it might have not seemed so. In 2017-18 too, Australia chose to bat in the third innings after dominating the first half of the match. They were bowled out for 138, offering England a ray of hope by giving them a target of 354 in the fourth innings (Australia eventually won by 120 runs).

There were not many such anxious moments for Australia on Sunday thanks to a partnership of 89 runs between Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne. Head took an aggressive approach yet again and scored 51 from 54 balls, helping Australia’s lead swell to 381 by the time he was dismissed.

England were all but resigned to their fate by then. From pacer Ollie Robinson resorting to gentle off-spin with shades on to part-time leggie Malan turning his arm over, nothing was going to come in the way of Australia racking up a huge lead and putting England under the cosh when the time was right. The hosts even used the opportunity to allow Cameron Green (33*) to get some runs under his belt on the back of a few shaky innings.