This was a closer match than the first but, in the end, the tourists’ frailty with the bat in their first innings and some poor bowling in the opening sessions of the game, proved to be England’s undoing.
Before the match, Australia, as expected, named an unchanged team, whilst England gave a debut to Craig Overton, replacing pace bowler Jake Ball.
Captain Joe Root won the toss and decided that England would field first, but, on a grey, chilly day, the conditions failed to provide the expected help to their bowlers, with three rain interruptions disturbing their rhythm as well, although they also struggled for length.
David Warner and Cameron Bancroft put on 33 for the first wicket, before a mix-up between the pair saw Bancroft brilliantly run out by Chris Woakes for 10. Woakes then took the wicket of Warner for 47, but Australia were batting stubbornly, with Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith looking to consolidate before both men were out. Khawaja fell to James Anderson for 53, and Smith gave a debut test wicket to Overton who bowled him for 40.
However, Peter Handscomb and Shaun Marsh batted out the rest of the evening to leave Australia 209/4 overnight, with honours slightly in their favour.
Resuming on the second morning, England continue to struggle with the ball, despite Stuart Broad gaining early success with the wicket of Handscomb for 36. Tim Paine joined Marsh in the middle, and scored a half-century before becoming Overton’s second test wicket. Mitchell Starc was bowled by Broad for 6, but Pat Cummins joined Marsh in a 99-run 8th wicket partnership.
Marsh was in fine form, reaching his 5th test hundred before tea and going on to make 126 not out. Cummins meanwhile made another valuable knock of 44, and after he fell to Overton, Australia declared shortly afterwards on 442 for 8. Ominously for England, this was nearly 60 runs more than any side had made in a previous day-night test at Adelaide.
England suffered an early blow in their reply, losing Mark Stoneman for 18, lbw to Starc. At that point rain arrived and the players left the field, with a wet outfield causing an early end to the day’s proceedings, with England on 29 for 1.
The third day saw an England batting collapse, as the visitors lost six wickets for 113 runs. First to go was Vince caught off the bowling of Hazlewood, followed shortly afterwards by skipper Root for just 9. Cook was bowled by Nathan Lyon for 37, and Dhawan Malan fell for 19 to Cummins. Moeen Ali and David Bairstow were both out caught and bowled to Lyon and Starc respectively, and Woakes became the third consecutive batsman to fall in such a fashion losing his wicket to Starc.
At least Woakes and Overton were able to add some late order fight with an 8th wicket partnership of 66, with Woakes scoring 36 and Overton, on debut, showing some of his more experienced colleagues how to approach batting with an unbeaten 41. Nevertheless, he could not prevent Australia bowling the tourists out for 227, to give them a 215 first innings lead.
Declining to enforce the follow-on, Australia batted again in conditions that suited the English bowlers under lights. Bancroft fell to Anderson for 4, and he also accounted for Khawaja for 20. Meanwhile Woakes took the scalps of Warner and the prized Smith for just 6, to leave Australia 53 for 4 overnight. The day had belonged to the hosts, but the late wickets had offered England a semblance of hope they could still get something from the match.
The fourth day proved to be a thriller as the English bowlers roared back, whilst their batsmen partially repulsed the Australians. The star of the first part of the day was Anderson who took his first 5-wicket haul in Australia, taking 5 for 43, ably supported by Woakes with 4 for 36, as the home side were bowled out for 138.
That left England to chase a record for an Adelaide test of 354, but an opening stand of 53 between Cook and Stoneman set them on the right path. Cook then fell for 16 and Stoneman for 36, as the atmosphere became tense, with hostile bowling, dropped catches and failed Australian appeals adding to the drama. Starc accounted for Vince for 15, but Root and Malan dug-in, until just before the close of play when Cummins bowled Malan for 29. That left Root (67 not out) and night-watchman Woakes to see out the day, leaving England 176 for four overnight.
Australia were still in the driving seat but it had been England’s day.
Unfortunately, English hopes were extinguished early on the 5th day when Hazlewood took the wickets of both Woakes and Root without them adding to the overnight score. When Ali was lbw to Lyon for just 2 the writing was on the wall for the tourists, and, despite a defiant 36 from Bairstow, Starc was able to clean up the English tail to bowl them all out for 233.