England challenge wilts in heatwave amid more DRS drama

England's hopes of an Ashes comeback melted in Adelaide's vicious summer sun as one of the mightiest Australian bowling efforts of recent times was overshadowed by a simmering furore over umpiring review technology.

Returning aces Pat Cummins (3-54) and Nathan Lyon (2-51) led a lion-hearted and unrelenting day-two assault in the Adelaide Oval furnace, seeing the visitors limp to 8-213 in reply to their 371 in temperatures that soared above 40 degrees Celsius.

Only Ben Stokes (45no from 151 balls) managed sustained resistance as the England captain continued his parallel series to his fellow Bazballers, maintaining the stubbornly obdurate approach that has seen him now face more balls (375) than any other batter this series for only the ninth-highest run tally (122).

Stokes, who suffered worsening cramps that left him struggling to run by day's end, had implored his teammates to fight before this match but found few takers in oppressive conditions that sent the majority of the 48,849-strong crowd retreating to the shade.

Despite that, Cummins not only found his trademark venom in his first game of cricket in five months after recovering from a back injury, but marshalled a bowling attack that had turned over half of its frontliners from the previous Test.

The also-recalled Lyon took his 564th Test wicket to go to second on Australia's all-time wicket taking charts, now behind only Shane Warne (708). Glenn McGrath (563) danced in delight when the off-spinner went past him in a two-wicket first-over burst.

All of which seemed quickly forgotten amid yet more drama surrounding the Decision Review System (DRS), which England coach Brendon McCullum had complained to the match referee about on Wednesday following Alex Carey's costly first-day reprieve.

When Mitchell Starc was caught today on the stump microphone suggesting the audio technology underpinning caught-behind reviews "needs to be sacked", it became clear whichever team has a referred decision go against them in this match would then have grounds to question the call.

Tension between players was amplified not just by the brutal on-field conditions, but also by yesterday's admission from the Real-Time Snickometer (RTS) technology operator that the system had been faulty.

Joe Root got the rub of the green amid England's early collapse when his inside edge to wicketkeeper Carey off Scott Boland was ruled not to have carried. It was then Jamie Smith who was left filthy when the second of two reviews for clean catches in as many Cummins overs went against him.

The confusion over Smith's fate on both reviews was exacerbated by the on-field calls from Nitin Menon appearing unclear to those watching (umpires no longer make an initial 'soft signal') as he asked for the help of besieged television umpire Chris Gaffaney.

In reality, Menon had given Smith out both times and was merely checking whether the catches had carried to the respective fielders.

In the first instance, Gaffaney deemed Smith had not gloved Cummins' bouncer and that it had hit his helmet instead. This left the Australians in disbelief. The shoe was on the other foot when, on the second Cummins-Smith review, RTS appeared to show a faint edge on the way through to Carey.

Travis Head gave the non-plussed Smith some choice words before and as he walked off, perhaps reminding him it was his compulsive hooking – for which Australia set the most obvious of short-ball traps – that might be to blame for the fact he is averaging under 15 in this series.

Stokes watched the unfolding fuss from the other end as he embarked on another block-a-thon. The left-hander has now scored two of the four slowest innings of his career (minimum 30 runs) from his past two innings after his 152-ball 50 in Brisbane.

Jofra Archer, who earlier in the day received a bake from a fired-up Stokes, held firm on the way to 30no (off 48) in an unbroken 45-run partnership with his captain.

Having sent down two overs between them through Australia's first two Tests of this campaign, Cummins and Lyon could have been forgiven for needing some time to find their rhythm.

Instead, the returning duo engineered the latest in a series of match-turning England collapses, this one registering at 3-5 from 14 balls.

Zak Crawley could hardly have played a more textbook tight forward press to Cummins, but the right-armer's extra bounce that has undone so many top-flight batters saw his wide-of-the-crease delivery kiss the opener's outside edge.

Lyon, thrown the ball before it was even 10 overs old, then drew level with McGrath thanks to the latest Ollie Pope brain-fade; England's No.3 shovelled a wide ball straight to mid-wicket that surely now has his spot in this side in question.

When Ben Duckett's fast start was undone by the off-spinner's final ball of his opening over, the left-hander's angled blade unable to make contact with an off-stump line ball, Lyon had surged past McGrath to leave the legendary ex-quick, watching on as a commentator with the BBC, lifting his chair above his head in celebration.

England would have slumped to 4-42 had Root not been given the benefit of the doubt on a caught-behind review when he inside-edged Boland in his first over. There was no escape however – Cummins found his outside edge to have Test cricket's No.1-ranked Test batter out for the 12th time.

Brook fought on despite clearly feeling the effects of the extreme temperatures, charging and slogging Boland over cover for six on the way to a brisk 45. But, after successfully reviewing an incorrect caught-behind call off Lyon, he enjoyed no such luck when Cameron Green found his outside edge in his first over.

Green had not long earlier left the field after copping a knock to his heavily bandaged left hand. He nonetheless offered no let-up in a pacey spell that saw him touch the 145kph mark and give the frontline bowlers a deserved breather between spells.

When Smith was given his marching orders in dramatic fashion, England had lost their sixth wicket before reaching 200 for the fourth time in five innings on this tour in another stumble.

This one, that saw the tourists lose 3-9, was led by Scott Boland (2-31) who had Will Jacks caught behind thanks to some Carey up-to-the-stumps brilliance before he bowled Brydon Carse.

It had not taken long for the effects of the brutal heat to wear thin on England on Thursday morning as Australia added 45 to their overnight tally of 8-326 before Jofra Archer completed his fourth career five-wicket haul.

Stokes had stern words with his spearhead after he ended Starc's frustrating rearguard by rattling his leg-stump – not before the tail-ender had bashed five boundaries from the first 13 balls of the morning.

Starc (54 off 75) raced to his second consecutive half-century after his 77 in Brisbane, lifting his series batting average to 47.

Archer did then earn a hearty embrace from Stokes when he had Nathan Lyon lbw to seal his fourth career five-wicket haul. His 5-53 (from 20.2 overs) carried the England attack and marked a strong response to critics amid suggestions his pace had been lacking in big moments during the first two Tests.

2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men's Ashes

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT

Australia squad (third Test only): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue