Australia v England – story of day four

Joe Root took it upon himself to keep English hopes alive as his team tried to complete a remarkable reversal of fortune in the second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval.

Root’s men earned an outside shot at a national-record run chase after a sustained revival which saw them bowl Australia out for 138 and then reach 176 for four by stumps on day four, on the back of their captain’s unbeaten 67, in pursuit of a highly-improbable 354.

The architects of England’s improvements, dating back more than 24 hours after their miserable start to this match, have been Chris Woakes and Craig Overton with the bat and then James Anderson and Woakes again with the ball.

Anderson recorded his first five-wicket haul in Australia, while Woakes finished with four for 36, as the hosts mustered only a joint top individual score of 20 after Steve Smith chose not to enforce the follow-on the previous evening.

Has Steve Smith done a ‘Dudley’?

Only one Test captain has ever lost a match after deciding against imposing the follow-on. South Africa’s Dudley Nourse was the culprit, back in 1950 at Durban … against Australia.

Shot of the day

Lyon v Moeen is no-contest

Whatever the outcome of this match, there has been a huge discrepancy in the impact of each team’s frontline spinner. Of course, Moeen Ali can make a big difference as a batsman too and has been inconvenienced by an injured finger on his bowling hand. But whereas the pressure lifted as soon as he came on here, on the same pitch Nathan Lyon has posed a huge threat with turn and bounce.

Stat of the day

Tweet of the day

What next?

Anybody’s guess. Countless predictions have bitten the dust here over the past two days.