England's Ashes hopes vanishing after batters fold again

Third Ashes Test, Adelaide Oval (day two of five)

Australia 371: Carey 106, Khawaja 82; Archer 5-53

England 213-8: Stokes 45*, Brook 45; Cummins 3-54

England trail by 158 runs

Scorecard

England's Ashes hopes are vanishing after they were overwhelmed by Australia amid more Snicko controversy on the second day of the third Test.

In temperatures that touched 41 degrees at the Adelaide Oval, England crumbled to 213-8 in blameless batting conditions. They are 158 runs adrift of Australia.

This was not a collapse caused by Bazballing batting, rather a fold in the face of relentless Australia bowling.

Only Ollie Pope, whose Test career is now hanging by a thread, and Jamie Smith were dismissed playing attacking shots – and Smith was at the centre of the Snicko confusion.

A day after Australia's Alex Carey was reprieved by a Snicko error, Smith first survived then was given out on the evidence of the technology, with players on both sides apparently losing faith in the decision review system (DRS).

But the debate surrounding DRS cannot mask the truth that England have wilted in the Ashes cauldron and could lose this series in as few as 10 days of cricket.

After Australia pushed on to 371 all out – the outstanding Jofra Archer with 5-53 – England's reply was in tatters at 42-3 when the tourists lost three wickets for five runs in 15 balls.

Harry Brook reined in his attacking instincts with 45 from 63 balls, while captain Ben Stokes dug a trench with a painstaking 45 not out from 151 deliveries. He found some late support in a stand of 45 with Archer, who is 30 not out.

But England were powerless to withstand the Australian excellence. The returning Pat Cummins claimed 3-54, while Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon took two wickets apiece.

At some point over the weekend, Cummins looks likely to once again become an Ashes-winning captain and the bloodletting of this England regime will begin.

At 2-0 down after two matches, this was the defining day for England. Though they began poorly, leaking 45 runs in 8.2 overs, Australia's total was far from insurmountable.

England had the opportunity to bat themselves back into the series. Instead, it was only Stokes' defiance that prevented them from bowling twice in the day.

While the Snicko controversy is unsatisfactory for a series of this magnitude, it pales in comparison to the substandard nature of England's performance.

Smith first survived when the technology adjudged a Cummins bouncer that ended at first slip came off his helmet, rather than his glove. An Australian voice on the field was heard to say "Snicko should be sacked".

In the next Cummins over, an aggrieved Smith was given caught behind attempting a wild pull shot. BBG Sports, the operators of Snicko, confirmed to the BBC it believed both decisions to be correct.

It matters little. Barring something extraordinary, Australia will bat England out of this match on their way to yet another Ashes series win in this country.

If this really is the end of the Bazball era as we know it, it is symbolic that captain Stokes was in the middle for so much of the day, watching his team crumble around him.

Perhaps the game was up even before Stokes arrived. If Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were each undone by superb deliveries from Cummins and Lyon respectively, Pope's flick at Lyon was foolish and fatal.

Pope has not repaid the faith shown in him as England's number three. Without a score in the second innings, his place for the fourth Test in Melbourne will be in huge doubt.

Joe Root survived a catch falling short of wicketkeeper Carey before he edged long-term nemesis Cummins for 19, leaving Brook and Stokes to battle through the afternoon heat.

Bar a drive off Boland for six, Brook played sensibly until he edged Cameron Green's second ball. Stokes took a horrible blow to the head off Mitchell Starc, yet was not shaken from his watchful vigil.

Cramping after almost four hours at the crease, he at least had a willing ally in Archer – two of few England players coming through this series with their reputations intact.

After suggestions Australia had a team past its best, or the results of the first two Tests were borne of England errors, this was confirmation the home side are simply far superior.

Despite the stifling heat, the Australia bowling was collectively brilliant, never giving England any respite. Whereas Archer often carried the visitors' attack single-handedly, Australia always had another bowler ready to examine English technique, defence and spirit.

Captain Cummins had not bowled a ball since July because of a back injury, yet was magnificent. He found movement to take the edges of Crawley and Root, then bounced out the discomforted Smith.

Lyon was overlooked for the second Test in Brisbane, but this ground is his home from home. The threat he carried exposed England's lack of a frontline spinner. Pope's gift was Lyon's 564th Test wicket, taking the off-spinner past Australian great Glenn McGrath to sixth on the all-time list.

Starc continued his outstanding series by making 54 with the bat and followed up by bowling with electric pace. An average of 90.7mph is the fastest day of his Ashes career.

Boland nagged away, having Will Jacks athletically caught by Carey, once again up to the stumps. Boland then found a gap in Brydon Carse's defence to hit the stumps. Even Green, the bit-part bowler, took the crucial wicket of Brook.