Another day of panic and bad improv has England shambling into the abyss | Jonathan Liew

Pyrrhic victories and pointless triumphs were all the tourists had to hold on to on a sometimes comical day four in Adelaide

For England, a day of pyrrhic victories and pointless triumphs. It was their first good bowling day of the series: unfortunately, it began with Australia almost 300 runs ahead in their second innings. Jos Buttler restored his fragile confidence with two fine sprawling catches, either side of the regulation chance he dropped off Steve Smith’s first ball.

Rory Burns finally showed some fight at the top of the order, his 34 knocking off a little over 7% of England’s 468-run target. And the captain, Joe Root, courageously batted on despite receiving two painful blows to what was euphemistically described as the “abdomen”, only to perish to the last ball of the day and leave England on the brink of defeat.