Staff Reporter.
England’s resistance was eventually broken as Australia completed a 275-run victory in the second Ashes Test in Adelaide to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
Needing to bat out the day for a draw with six wickets left, England defied expectation to take the game into the final session.
Jos Buttler, who should have been caught for a duck, survived 207 balls for 26, raising slim hopes of the most unlikely of England escapes, only to fall in incredible fashion in the second over of the night session.
He saw off 31.2 overs with Chris Woakes, who made 44, and another 14.2 with Ollie Robinson but stood on his stumps when going back to a shorter ball from Jhye Richardson.
James Anderson was last man out, caught at gully for Richardson’s fifth wicket, with 20.5 overs left. England were 192 all out in 113.1 overs.
It leaves their hopes of a first Ashes series win in Australia since 2010-11 severely faded, as the tour moves to Melbourne for the third Test, which begins at 23:30 GMT on 25 December.
England have never come from 2-0 down to win the Ashes in the series’ 139-year history.
England captain Joe Root: “It was heart-breaking to see Jos get out that way.
“Today he was a great example to the rest of the guys. That’s the desire and determination you need to win out here. The way he has gone about it is outstanding.
“We have competed in patches. We have to do it from ball one for five days. The attitude today was brilliant. Was just need to do more of it. I expect us to have that mentality for the rest of the series.”
Australia stand-in captain Steve Smith: “We weren’t nervous. They showed some good resistance and fight. Jos played extremely well. It was an innings we haven’t seen from him before; he’s usually a bit of a dasher.”