‘Come home lads’, ‘Australia’s laughing at you’ - Fans lambast England for ‘hopeless’ Second Test defeat in Adelaide

Despite a spirited final day effort from the tourists, which saw Jos Buttler survive 207 balls before treading on his stumps and being dismissed for 26 shortly after tea, they were unable to hang on to secure a draw, as Australia secured the win by 275 runs with just under 21 overs left to play.

Australia’s dominant first innings that saw them declare on 473-9, with Marcus Labuschagne grinding out a century off 305 balls and David Warner chipping in with 94.

England got their batting display off to a dire start, reduced to 12-2 under the lights in the final session of day two, with both Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed once again being dismissed for single figures.

Offering hope to the supporters at home who braved the 4am rise to take in the third day’s play, Joe Root and Dawid Malan brought up 150 without any further losses, but the all too familiar - and indeed predictable - middle order collapse saw England rattled out for for just 236.

The hosts piled on the pain in their second innings, opting not to enforce the follow on, tiring their opponents in the Adelaide heat for just over 60 overs, setting England a mammoth 468 run chase to win the Test.

With hopes of victory looking slim, Hameed departed for a duck, but Burns stuck around for close to 100 balls, making 34 runs.

Ben Stokes was unable to replicate his iconic 2019 Headingley innings , and was dismissed for 12 runs off 77 balls, before Chris Woakes and Butler provided the possibility of a famous draw with a partnership of 61 runs.

While they were forced to chew their way through it, the Aussies eventually worked their way through England’s tail, and will continue their ravenous pursuit of a 5-0 whitewash at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Boxing Day.

Here’s a look of how cricket fans reacted to the final day’s play on Twitter:

@JohnAcko1985 said: “Come home lads”

@sairairshad00 said: “Give whole team match fee to @josbuttler”

@LewisAbbott32 said: “Everyone but Malan, Root, Stokes and Buttler could be dropped.”

@johnd1963 said: “A brave fight? We are bowled out for under 200 AGAIN! This team is just going backwards now. Time for Silverwood to be sacked and Root to stand down as Captain.”

@BulldogRipper tweeted: “Us Aussies looking at you Poms get smashed again. Bottles should be on your shirts. Hopeless, Australia laughing at you Poms.

@rjcarreyett said: “A draw would’ve papered over the cracks. Aussies not even at full strength in a test we were targeting to win. So far away off from where we should be.”

@alfbridge43 said: “It must be difficult for the England batsmen when facing Elvis Presley lookalike Jhye Richardson singing ‘Easy Come Easy Go’ during his gyrating run up.”

@DrGhostDogg108 said: “These drop in pitches just don’t deteriorate like the traditional pitches. If anything, this Adelaide oval pitch played easiest for batsmen on day 5!”

@RoryDaviesCCFC said: “Don’t worry lads we will win 3-2”