England 17 for 2 (Root 5*, Malan 1*, Neser 1-4, Starc 1-11) trail Australia 473 for 9 dec. (Labuschagne 103, Warner 95, Smith 93, Carey 51) by 456 runs

The message on Adelaide's scoreboard was unequivocal: "Severe weather approaching. Follow direction from event staff and seek shelter". And sure enough, England's beleaguered cricketers were only too willing to hunker down and hope the bad men go away, after a ferocious floodlit examination had ended with their Ashes hopes tumbling down the street like a wheelie-bin in a gale.

After five sessions of sedate sparring at the Adelaide Oval, in which Australia's top-order played within themselves to drag England's largely toothless right-arm seam attack into their umpteenth spells, the contest was lit up in the final session like the lightning strike behind the bowler's arm that forced a hasty abandonment, midway through the ninth over of Australia's new-ball onslaught.

By then, both of England's openers had been prised from the crease - Rory Burns a victim once again of Mitchell Starc's left-arm wiles, despite being shielded from his first delivery, before Haseeb Hameed flicked the second ball of Michael Neser's Test career straight to mid-on to cue the most joyous scenes of celebration in the series to date.

Joe Root, England's only source of hope, then edged his second ball short of slip but endured to the early close alongside Dawid Malan, the same sidekick who had briefly inspired thoughts of salvation in that third-wicket stand at the Gabba last week. But with three full days to come, and confidence in England's camp at rock bottom, it's going to take something truly phenomenal to pull the team out of this latest tailspin.

After resuming on an ominous 221 for 2, Australia's eventual 473 for 9 declared was a masterclass of targeted acceleration, as a brace of sparky innings from Steven Smith and Alex Carey built on the first-day efforts of David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne - who duly brought up his sixth Test century in the first half-hour then survived England's second wicket with a no-ball of the series before departing soon afterwards for 103.

But it was the twin departures of Smith, lbw for 93, and Carey, caught at short cover on the stroke of tea for 51 - both off the tidy but largely unthreatening James Anderson - that set the stage for a contemptuous finale.

With the storm encroaching on the horizon, and the clear ambition of a lengthy stint of bowling under the floodlights, Australia's lower-order emerged after the interval with licence to plant their collective front dogs and swing for the hills. Starc was the relative anchorman, serving up a run-a-ball 39 not out with a host of long-levered swipes through the line, but it was the debutant Neser who seized the moment with unfettered glee.

After so many years of waiting on the sidelines as 12th man, Neser wasn't going to let a further 20 minutes of waiting putting him off his stride. He saw off the first two balls of the resumption with minimal fuss, and then, after picking off a brace of fours to ease into his evening's work, it was the return of Woakes that truly signalled the cavalry charge.

Hard though Woakes had toiled in the opening exchanges of this Test, he had already been identified as England's weakest link during the latter stages of Smith's innings, in which he had cracked two fours and a six in the space of three balls - the latter a remarkable heave over midwicket as he knelt into a fractionally short ball outside off to hoist Australia past the 350 mark.

And now, as he returned for his 22nd over, Neser was primed to prove that his solitary first-class hundred was no fluke, as he climbed in Woakes' laboured offerings for a 16-run over including a yawning hack for four through midwicket and the shot of the match to date, a veritable uppercut into the stands at extra cover.

Ben Stokes ended his fun on 35 from 24 balls as Stuart Broad back-pedalled at long-off to swallow another thrash through the line, but Starc picked up the cudgels with three meaty fours in the same over, before Jhye Richardson set the seal on a free-wheeling final flourish with a murderous clout for six over midwicket - the most literal declaration of the death overs that Woakes has encountered since the T20 World Cup.

One ball later, Richardson scuffed an edge to the keeper and Smith waved them in - but all told, Australia's Nos. 8 to 10 had racked up 83 runs in their final ten overs, and Woakes' figures had been vandalised to the tune of 54 runs in his final four overs.

The irony is that England's day had actually begun with relative purpose. With more swing on offer for the second new ball than the first, the seamer's lengths had been notably fuller from the outset, not least the persevering Ollie Robinson, whose first ball of the day should have had Labuschagne caught-behind for 102, only for replays to show that he had over-stepped.

It was another shattering blow to England's flagging morale - their second no-ball dismissal of the series, to go with a tally of dropped catches than is now into double figures - but with impressive gumption, Robinson dusted himself down and made amends ten balls later, as Labuschagne padded up to a nipbacker to be pinned plumb in front of middle.

Worryingly, however, for England's prospects of achieving even parity in this contest, the middle part of their bowling effort was dominated by the part-time spin of Joe Root, who found purchase from the outset and no little guile, as he showed by bowling Australia's first-Test centurion Travis Head with a superb sucker-punch, a toss-up above the eyeline that dipped at his feet and straightened into the stumps for 18.

At a stroke, Root had become only the tenth visiting spinner to take a wicket at Adelaide since 2010, and of the names above him, only three have more than two scalps. Nathan Lyon, by contrast, has hoovered up 51 wickets at 26.94 in 11 visits, and assuming Australia's seamers leave him any spoils to get stuck into, he'll fancy his chances of adding to that tally on this particular surface, and against this particular line-up.

When Stokes popped up one over later to bowl the hapless Cameron Green for 2 (taking his Test average to 1.00), England went to lunch, having arguably enjoyed the better of the session with Australia 303 for 5.

It was, however, about as relative as such comparisons get, and the manner in which Australia turned up the heat before the close was a far truer reflection of the gulf between the team's aptitudes, attitudes and applications.