Australia have obliterated Bazball in just 10 days, and England know it

Adelaide: England opener Zak Crawley, who two months ago declared that Bazball “winds up” Australia, has all but waved the white flag for his team in a one-sided Ashes campaign, conceding Pat Cummins’ men have outplayed the tourists and stifled their aggressive approach with the bat.

A Harry Brook reverse sweep brain explosion and a magnificent spell from recalled spinner Nathan Lyon put Australia on the cusp of an Ashes series victory after Cummins’ three-wicket haul slowed what was shaping as an unlikely world record run chase from England.

A maiden Test century on Australian soil for Crawley went begging when he was out for a patient 85 late on day four of the third Test, while Brook’s awful dismissal summed up the tourists’ woes.

England reached stumps at 6-207, still requiring 228 runs for victory – a fourth-innings target no team has ever successfully chased in Test cricket.

In an interview with The Times in October, Crawley said England’s audacious approach rubbed Australia the wrong way.

“Bazball really winds them up, doesn’t it?” Crawley said. “Which is great. If they get wound up, then that’s better for us.”

Just 10 days into the series, a 3-0 lead is imminent for Australia, with Bazball effectively obliterated, given England’s more measured and traditional approach in Adelaide.

“It’s obviously very disappointing … an uphill battle from here,” Crawley said after play. “We’re staring down the barrel [of defeat], but we never give up.

“We came here to win the Ashes … but there’ll be plenty to play for. We’ll definitely view it like that.

“It’s been tough. They’re a very, very good side. It was always going to be tough coming here. They’ve made it very hard for us. We’ve been slightly short of our best, but a lot of credit has to go to them.

“It’s hard to play the way we have in the past. They set good fields. It’s an attritional style of cricket over here and it’s not as easy to score quickly.”

Having already attempted a ramp shot that nearly bowled him – prompting Test great Ricky Ponting to label it the “worst batting I have ever seen” – Brook’s miserable tour continued when he was bowled for 30 trying to reverse sweep Lyon just as England looked to be mounting a remarkable comeback.

While it has been a profitable shot for Brook in the past, this dismissal was horrendous, coming with England wrestling back momentum at 3-177 in pursuit of 435.

As for the ramp shot, Channel Seven commentator Ponting was less than impressed.

“That is the worst batting that I have ever seen,” Ponting said. “Imagine walking back into the dressing room in front of your mates in a must-win Ashes Test match having gone out like that.

“Call me old-fashioned, but that doesn’t make much sense to me.”

Australia’s Alex Carey said he was in no position to comment given he’s had a few reverse sweeps go wrong.

“Great wicket for us,” Carey said. “I thought he had success playing the reverse sweep and that all their players actually played their reverse sweep really well today. It can be the downfall.”

While Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope have offered little return this series, averaging 16 and 21 respectively, Brook has also failed to deliver on the hype, averaging 28.8 to go with some ordinary fielding, including two crucial dropped catches in this Test.

Australia showed the value of playing a frontline spinner on a deteriorating Adelaide pitch when Lyon (3-64 from 18 overs) served up the “perfect” off-break, in the words of Mark Waugh, to bowl Ben Stokes for five.

There was irony in the moment, Fox Sports commentator Adam Gilchrist talking up Stokes’ solid fourth-innings average of 37 when Lyon got one to drift in and spin away to crash into off stump.

When Crawley was stumped neatly by Carey shortly after, Lyon had picked up three wickets in 20 balls, digging the knife further into a wounded England side. It was a pointed reminder of his worth, after being dropped for Brisbane.

Set 435 to win, England started in familiar fashion when Duckett (one) edged to Marnus Labuschagne before Cummins jagged a second wicket – this time Pope, courtesy of another superb diving catch from Labuschagne.

The moment of the day arrived in England’s 29th over when Joe Root fished outside off stump and feathered a catch through to Carey off Cummins.

His explosive reaction – punching his bat and yelling as he walked off – was emblematic of his torrid time as a Test cricketer in Australia. While a fine century in Brisbane briefly eased concerns, Root’s overall record in Australia – zero wins from 18 Tests – remains the real talking point.

Earlier, Carey fell short in his bid to become the first Australian wicketkeeper to make two centuries in one Test when he was caught for 72, while Travis Head finished on 170, just five runs shy of his highest Test score, as Australia posted 349.

Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower (2001) and India’s Rishabh Pant (2025) are the only wicketkeepers to to make two centuries in one Test, while Ian Healy still holds the record for the most runs in a single Test by an Australian gloveman, with scores of 165 not out and 45 not out against the West Indies in Brisbane in 1996.

Gilchrist plundered 204 not out against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2002 but did not bat in the second innings.

Carey has been a revelation since 2022 and now boasts a Test average of 36.72, second on the all-time Australian wicketkeepers list behind Gilchrist (47.6). His stumping of Crawley was sharp, capping a memorable match for the South Australian.