Graeme Swann criticised Ollie Pope for “an awful dismissal” as England’s No 3 was out cheaply again and Australia tightened their grip on the Ashes urn.
Pope came to the crease with England on 37-1 needing to revive his own Test career as well as give the tourists a boost in their pursuit of Australia’s first innings total of 371. But he was soon walking back to the pavilion at the Adelaide Oval. Australia captain Pat Cummins turned to his spinner, Nathan Lyon, who quickly removed Pope for three runs from 10 balls.
Pope reached for the ball outside off-stump before flicking to midwicket, where Josh Inglis took a simple catch. The 27-year-old averages 17.66 against Australia and his reign as England’s No 3 is surely over, barring a match-winning contribution in the second innings.
Lyon bowled Ben Duckett moments later as England collapsed, before a late rally by captain Ben Stokes (45*) and fast bowler Jofra Archer (30*) provided a sliver of hope. England ended day two of the third Test on 213-8, trailing Australia by 158 runs.
Speaking on TNT Sports, Swann was unimpressed with Pope and pinpointed his wicket as the moment Lyon was allowed to take control of the game.
“Lyon was allowed to bowl really well by that gift being handed to him in his first over,” said the former England spinner. “Ollie Pope, lack of footwork, lazily chipping it to midwicket, an awful dismissal for a Test No 3.
“And then the left-hander’s [Duckett] on strike, gets a good ball. Because of those two wickets, Nathan Lyon was then treated with the respect that he shouldn’t have been given basically.”
Lyon hailed Australia’s bowling effort in 40C heat. They will return with 11 more overs at the start of day three before the chance to take the new ball.
“Pretty proud about how the boys went about it,” Lyon told TNT Sports. “Pat’s been phenomenal as captain as always, but the effort from our fast bowlers to get them 213-8 off 68 overs, it’s a pretty big effort, so rest up, recover and we’ll have another crack in the morning.”
