Nasser Hussain can never travel too far without being reminded of his infamous decision to bowl first in Brisbane 15 years ago. Joe Root may get to know the feeling unless England’s batsmen dig their captain out of an almighty hole.
Root’s gamble to insert Australia here spectacularly backfired when Australia rattled up the small matter of 442 for eight – at least a hundred over par for a day-night Test here – to leave any hopes England had of competing in these Ashes by a thread.
And when Mitchell Starc quickly sent back Mark Stoneman when England began their reply under the Adelaide floodlights it looked as though Australia would make huge inroads into the batting on this second day.
Shaun Marsh hit an unbeaten 126 as Australia declared on 442-8, before bowling 9.1 overs at England until rain ended day two
Rain handed England a temporary reprieve but England will start the third day under huge pressure if they are to get out of trouble here and keep these ashes alive before the third Test in Australia’s Perth fortress.
To be fair to Root he needed two of England’s greatest bowlers in Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad to justify his decision but instead they began very badly on the first day and that set the tone for the Australia innings.
The big two were much better yesterday from the moment Broad trapped Peter Handscomb, who had somehow survived to make 36 under lights on Saturday, plumb in front with the third ball of the day.
And if two big decisions in the first session had gone Anderson’s way England might have kept Australia to the total below 300 that would have been the bare minimum of Root’s ambitions once he had decided to bowl.
The naked eye suggested umpire Chris Gaffaney was right to give Marsh lbw on 29 and perhaps wrong to send Tim Paine on his way on 24 but both were overturned by technology. It was to prove hugely costly for England.
The warning signs were there when England were only able to add the wicket of Paine, making his first Test half-century for seven years, by ‘tea’ but it was in the middle session that their whole series began to unravel.
England’s one-dimensional attack was bereft of pace, energy, imagination and ideas while the body language was of a beaten team at an absurdly early stage of the series on only the second day of the second Test.
While England’s hopes plummeted rapidly Australia’s selectors were vindicated firstly by the performance of Paine and then spectacularly by the 34-year-old previous under-achiever in Shaun Marsh.
Australia were derided here for turning to Paine and Marsh ahead of these Ashes and just for a moment the apparent confusion in the home ranks appeared to give England a glimmer of pre-series hope. Not a bit of it.
Now Marsh, who made a half-century in Brisbane, chose his eighth recall to the Australia side to make his fifth Test century and show why his country had retained faith in him through so many injuries and so much disappointment.
This was brilliant from Marsh who, in the company of Pat Cummins, firstly frustrated England and then started embarrassing them as they made a total mockery of Root’s ill-fated gamble at the toss.
Cummins, who had kept Steve Smith company when he made his first-Test defining century in Brisbane, took 37 balls to get off the mark as Australia set out to extend their innings until the ‘twilight’ zone.
Then he started enjoying himself alongside Marsh, whose century was greeted with wild acclaim by an Adelaide crowd acutely aware they were watching an Australian side taking total control of this series.
England’s plight was somehow summed up when Marsh got an edge to a rare good delivery from Chris Woakes and saw the ball lob towards gully where Cook and Vince contrived to collide in trying to take the catch and saw the ball plop gently to the ground.
It got even worse after the ‘dinner’ break as Australia swung lustily, Nathan Lyon pulling Craig Overton for six and Marsh taking 15 off the last over before Steve Smith’s declaration, hitting Broad straight and mighty for six. It seemed huge symbolic. Australia, one up after Brisbane, are going to take some stopping over the next three days if they are not to take a 2-0 lead that would surely be terminal to England’s hopes of retaining the urn.