Australia wrested control of the second Test in Adelaide by picking four wickets for 99 runs in the first session of day three. With Shaun Marsh’s ton giving Australia an advantage on the second day, the hosts needed a good start with the ball in the first session. That was provided by Josh Hazlewood, who struck in his first over of the day. James Vince was done in by some extra bounce and an attempted punch of the backfoot ended up in the ‘keeper’s gloves.

England looked towards their best batsmen – Alastair Cook and Joe Root – to pull them out of trouble but those hopes were short-lived. Joe Root, who was dismissed LBW twice in Brisbane, was targeted on the pads again but he managed to see them out before falling to a full, wider one. The extravagant cover drive resulted in an edge to slip as Pat Cummins bagged his first wicket of the day. Cook managed to stave off the plans set by the pacers but fell to the offspin of Nathan Lyon after getting to 37. Dawid Malan was peppered with short balls from Mitchell Starc but he managed to keep out of danger for a while. But his 58-ball stay for 19 came to an end when Cummins returned for a fresh spell. A quick, shortish ball took Malan’s inside edge and was snapped up well by Tim Paine behind the stumps.

At 102/5, England’s first innings was in complete tatters. It took them more than three days to suffer a bad session in the first Test but it has come at least a day earlier in Adelaide. The first objective will be to avoid the follow-on now with their hopes resting on the unbeaten batsmen – Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow – who added 26 runs before the Tea break.