Nerveless Jacob Bethell makes England wonder what might have been

Good evening and welcome to live coverage of day four of the fifth Ashes Test which begins with England adrift and seemingly without hope of recovery with Australia 518 for seven, a lead of 134, 3-1 up in the series and preparing a party for Wednesday or Thursday night depending on England’s resilience. Yesterday was arguably England’s worst of the series. They have had dreadful sessions before but, having dropped four catches, one a dolly, two difficult and the fourth a one in 50 chance of sticking, they were taken to the cleaners by Steve Smith, that winning hybrid of Sir Donald Bradman and Sir Norman Wisdom, Travis Head and, in a different but no less frustrating way, Michael Neser. Little victories in dismissing Jake Weatherald, Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey and Cameron Green fairly cheaply were overwhelmed by Head, Smith and the procession of 50+ partnerships (seven of the eight stands to date. By contrast England made three. In home Ashes Tests since the start of the 2013 series Australia have made 82 half-century partnerships. In the same Tests England have made 47, 35 fewer. No wonder which is the sturdier building.)

In terms of days this has not been a long tour but England looked gassed yesterday, Ben Stokes lost his innovative spark and nous as captain, temporarily, through essentially carrying the team on his and Joe Root’s back. He needs help, more fire from his team-mates, most of whom are diffident and possibly too embarrassed by their performances to chirp, and better onfield counsel when he’s bowling.

Whether the end comes today or tomorrow, with defeat or a draw (the prospect of victory, of taking 13 wickets with the attack in the shape it’s in after 124 overs of toil, is negligible) there will be plenty of time to regroup for the red-ball players but the multiformat men will be whisked off to Sri Lanka in a couple of days. Change of scenery may do them the world of good but what they look most in need of is clearing their heads.

The smart money will be on it ending today, making it a 17-day series. In 2006-07, when 4-0 down, England were blown away for 147 in the fifth Test; in 2013-14 at 4-0 down, they were routed for 166; in 2017-18 at 3-0 down they managed 180 in an innings defeat and at Hobart, the venue for the fifth Test in the Covid series, at 3-0 down they were sktttled for 147. Should Australia compound their pain by more grinding this morning, it’s hard to see England overcoming a sense of resignation to compile a good enough score to trouble their hosts. But then again, the world is awful enough at the moment without succumbing to despair just yet. Perhaps there’s one last miracle in Stokes’ locker