BBC Online :
England’s batting capitulated again as Australia’s dominance of the Ashes series continued on day one of the crucial third Test in Melbourne.
Trailing 2-0 and needing to win to keep their Ashes hopes alive, England were dismissed for a pitiful 185 after being put into bat in the iconic Boxing Day Test.
The tourists were 19-2 after another top-order failure – Haseeb Hameed out for a 10-ball duck and fellow opener Zak Crawley, one of four England changes from defeat in Adelaide, making just 12 on his return. Captain Joe Root reached 50 before he was caught behind playing a careless waft off the bowling of Mitchell Starc.
That was the first of three dire dismissals in the afternoon session with Ben Stokes cutting Cameron Green to point for 25 and Jos Buttler holing out off Nathan Lyon for three on the stroke of tea.
Only 35 from the recalled Jonny Bairstow and 22 from Ollie Robinson, who was last man out after some slogging, prevented an even more humiliating score.
To further compound England’s problems, David Warner thrashed an energetic 38 from 42 balls before the opener was caught in the gully off James Anderson with just 10 minutes left to play.
Australia, on one of the biggest days in the nation’s sporting calendar, closed on 61-1, trailing by 124.
The hosts will seal a series victory with two Tests to spare by winning in Melbourne and are guaranteed to retain the urn if they draw.
In a must-win game, England have shown little evidence they will turn around a series in which they have been outclassed during almost every day’s play. England’s efforts in Brisbane and Adelaide were dismal. At Melbourne, after talk of “brutally honest” team meetings in the build-up, they managed to sink further towards disarray.
The day was delayed by morning drizzle and when home captain Pat Cummins asked England to bat on an green pitch, unsurprisingly there were worries for England’s chances.
In truth, however, some bounce and early seam movement aside, conditions were not as difficult as anticipated. England only offered a meek surrender.
Cummins was exceptional in the morning session, removing Hameed, Crawley and Dawid Malan, but otherwise Mitchell Starc was wayward, 32-year-old seamer Scott Boland steady but unthreatening on debut and spinner Nathan Lyon played a holding role on a day one pitch.
What followed, from Root, Stokes and Buttler – England’s three most senior batters, was inexcusable. As partnerships threatened to build, they gifted their wickets with bad shots.
