How to watch England vs Australia, dates and start times

By the end of play, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith and Will Jacks all averaged under 30 for the series, a grim reflection of their collective struggles.

Stokes was only just above that mark as he finished on 45 not out, dropping anchor for 151 painstaking deliveries and hitting only three fours as he banished the caricatures of ‘Bazball’ for the playbook of Sir Geoff Boycott.

It came at a physical cost as he cramped up in the heat, limped between the wickets and dug deep in stifling temperatures, but Trescothick rebuffed the suggestion that the team had failed their captain by failing to match his resolve.

“I’m not sure ‘letting him down’ is the right terminology to use to be honest. Everybody is trying 100 per cent and working as hard as they can,” he said after a day that took England ever closer to an irretrievable 3-0 scoreline.

“It’s not like anybody is going in to any game and not working as hard as anybody else. They just haven’t had the success they wanted at this stage. But success comes and goes, it’s not guaranteed or given that you’ll succeed in every series. Ben has chosen to play in that fashion today and gone about it in a way he thought was right. Everybody has the opportunity to try and read the situation and judge what they’re going to try and do; the players will play in certain ways and we trust them to do that.”

Asked if the other batters had got their judgments right, Trescothick defied the evidence on the scoreboard by responding: “Pretty much, yeah.”

Australia’s team for third Test

Pat Cummins has been out since July with a back stress injury, but has returned to full fitness in Adelaide and will lead Australia. His team made two changes, with Cummins and Nathan Lyon returning in place of Michael Neser – despite his five-wicket haul in Brisbane – and Brendan Doggett.

That meant no place for Usman Khawaja, the opener who turns 39 on Thursday and has regained full fitness after missing the Brisbane Test with a back injury. However, batsman Steve Smith was a late omission.

Smith, who captained the hosts to victory in the first two Test matches, was named in his side’s XI on the eve of the match but withdrew on Wednesday morning.

His omission was confirmed by Cummins, returning to lead the side after a back injury, with Khawaja recalled in Smith’s absence.