AUS VS ENG - 2nd Test, The Ashes, 2021-22

Are six days enough for England to recover, or for Australia to solve their problem of plenty? Time for us to rest however - it's been Rishi Roy bringing you the coverage, alongside Ramakrishnan MS, Hariprasad Sadanandan, and Praveen Kumar. Have a merry Christmas unboxing your presents, while we box one up for you - the Boxing Day Ashes Test at the MCG. Until then, cheerio!

Australia's dominance at the Adelaide Oval of late, their brutal, ruthless demolition of the opposition, may warrant it's reinstatement as Australia's new fort, what with the destruction of the Gabbatoir earlier this year. A "weakened", second-choice bowling attack has blown away the English batting twice over, and their batting remains as good as it's ever been at home - however questionable overseas. At the moment, the English batting is the one under the pump, and the English bowling even worse - dismissed for lack of penetration and competence in these conditions. To top it off, their best batsman has been weakened by two box shots, and their best player is also nursing an injury.

Marnus Labuschagne | Man of the Match (103 and 51): We really stuck it out there, and Davey batted very well and put the pressure on the bowlers. I tried to absorb the pressure and if you have a combination like that out there, it hands us the advantage. I do a bit of self-talk, especially when I congratulated myself on playing the bouncer by Stokes, as opposed to the one before that I played poorly. We played well this Test match and didn't take our foot off the peddle. Getting my first Ashes ton was terrific and I was disappointed that I didn't make it a big one despite a few chances. I have played with Neser and played with Jhye in Shield cricket only weeks ago, and they have a unique set of skills - like Neser hits the stumps, for instance. It was great to have two bowlers out and still be able to dominate this Test match.

Steve Smith | Australia captain: I wasn't nervous. I think Jos (Buttler) played very well, and played over 200 balls, so it was good resistance along with Woakes and Robbo (Robinson). We wanted to stay calm because it would take a couple of good balls and a couple of wickets to get the win. I did enjoy captaincy and the guys played well and controlled the game after the first day. Davey (Warner) and Marnus's partnership set it up, so we could control the game. A special mention to Starc, who has bowled as well as he's bowled in a long time, and he's led the attack really well. I think he summed it up quickly that it wasn't swinging and he was just hitting a good length and attacking the batsmen. The guys in there said Cam Green shouldn't bowl at all today, because his workload needs to be managed. Ideally he shouldn't have bowled today, but we needed him to bowl because of how good he has been. I have no idea about Josh Hazlewood (availability for the next game), but Harris is batting well in the nets, so he needs to not overthink it and trust the process and he can turn it around. The COVID protocols are level 4 or 3 right now, and thankfully we've been able to entertain people with cricket in this difficult period. We'll go about our business as well as we can.

Joe Root | England captain: I am fine. It was rough day (yesterday), feel a bit better today (smiles). When we look at ball in hand, I don't think we bowled the right lengths, we needed to bowl fuller. As soon as we did that in the second innings, we made it harder for them. It’s disappointing because we made the same mistakes that we made four years ago. We could have bowled better and should have batted better. We have to be (confident) about turning things around. I’m confident that we have all that we need to win here. Just need to stop repeating the same mistakes. We have to get through that first 20 minutes and then go greedy, need to leave better as well. Need to also manage certain passages of play better. Certainly capable of it. Yes, that's the attitude (Buttler's defiance) we needed to harness through the whole game. I feel we competed in patches, but we need to fight the whole game. That’s what is needed to win here. The attitude today was brilliant. We just need to do more of it. I expect us to have that mentality for the rest of the series.

The Aussies simply had to build on their lead, and England did make an attempt to come back, picking up quick Aussie wickets on the fourth morning. Once again, dropped chances and rotten DRS luck didn't help them, neither did the blows to Root's box and Buttler trodding on his stumps. Or Stokes being half fit. It's all gone wrong for England in this Test, and they really haven't helped their cause. Yes, there has been resistance, but match-saving resistance, but match-winning - six days for Boxing Day and six days to change that. We'll be back with the presentations in a moment.

20:14 Local Time, 09:44 GMT, 15:14 IST: It was always going to be Australia. England had their moments, but really, it was always going to be Australia after the partnership between Malan and Root broke in the first innings. That collapse - that's what did it. Australia weren't at their strongest this Test, with Hazlewood and Cummins sitting out, but England simply outdid themselves, with mediocrity and rotten luck. Labuschagne scored a quality hundred, despite riding his luck, and being aided by Smith and co. to get the Aussies to 473. The English openers continued to struggle, but Root and Malan lent England a shot at a comeback. And then it was always downhill. 150-2 to 150-3 in the first innings. That's where the slide began.

J Richardson to Anderson, out Caught by Green!! That's it! AUS 2-0 ENG! Jhye Richardson gets his first five-for in Test cricket! And what an opportune moment this is to pick up your first five-for! Anderson is pushed back by a short of length ball, has a little poke at it, and that flies off a healthy outside edge to Green's left, and he's been terrific at gully this Test, as he dives to the left to secure a second successive Test win this series. That's Adelaide conquered by Australia, for the second year in a row. Anderson c Green b J Richardson 2(5)

J Richardson to Anderson, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Starc to Broad, no run, 140.6kmph from round the wicket, someone tell Broad to open up his stance a little, he has to hop and manages to fend this, almost off his gloves

Starc to Broad, no run, 142.3kmph short one at the gut, Broad hops back and defends solidly

Starc to Broad, no run, 143.3kmph into the hip, Broad hops and misses the tuck off the bat, deflects off the hip thigh towards leg slip

Starc to Broad, no run, short of length ball on off-stump, Broad hangs back and opens the face to steer this towards backward point where a leftward dive cuts off a potential boundary

Starc to Broad, no run, short ball at the head, Broad ducks under it and that's flying over his head to the keeper

Starc to Broad, FOUR, that's a pacy back of a length ball with no width, Broad just opens the face, stays still and steers it to the deep backward point boundary for four!

J Richardson to Anderson, no run, good length ball on off-stump, Anderson is half-cocked forward and defends solidly

J Richardson to Anderson, 2 runs, into the blockhole on off-stump, Anderson opens the face and steers it off the outside half towards third man for a couple

J Richardson to Broad, 1 run, alarms! A short ball into the body, Broad is made to arch back and cut in a cramped manner, flies into the gap between gully and backward point for a single

J Richardson to Broad, 2 runs, fuller length ball just outside off, Broad has a go at the drive, miscues it off the inside half down to long-on for two

J Richardson to Broad, no run, fuller length ball on the stumps, Broad backs into the on-side and drives this towards mid-off