Joe Root is facing the threat of another Ashes after England’s defeat that confirmed all our worst fears.
There were errors before the ball was bowled and then England were outclassed by an Aussie who is now confident.
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If England fail to avoid defeat in the second Test starting on Thursday, it could turn into an attack of torture and agony.
Captain Root’s last ten Tests in Australia have had nine losses – make it ten of 11 now – so he knows all about the misery below.
Asked whether the visit would follow a now familiar grim path, he said: “Making sure there are no repetitions is enough of a motivation for us.
“As you’ve seen over the years, this team has generally responded to tough defeats with some strong results. We have to do exactly that on this tour.”
Pace ace Stuart Broad should have played instead of spinner Jack Leach and Root should have won the toss and bowled first in the sky with the most luscious pitch.
England says that they have been planning this series for two years.
Of course, the two-year plan didn’t mean Chris Woakes, who had played a Test in the last 16 months, and Tyro Ollie Robinson shared the new ball.
Root defended the decisions, which were not surprising, but were complicated when England batted so poorly on the first day and found themselves 29-4 all out on the way to 147.
There was a time when England themselves took four wickets for 29 runs but Travis Head’s brilliant counter-century missed that opportunity.
Root and David Malan put on a 162-run partnership for the third wicket after England were 278 runs behind in the first innings.
But they could not keep up the resistance and England’s last eight second innings wickets were reduced to 74 runs.
England dropped catches and missed the run out. And he bowled too many wickets with soft dismissals.
Broad and Jimmy Anderson will certainly play the pink ball Test in Adelaide but the damage is already done.
Root reiterated his pre-series mantra that England should be “brave” and explained: “If we go about things the same way as in the last two rounds, we will get the same results.
We have to make sure we maintain equality and move forward and then push ourselves back to take opportunities. We have learned some hard lessons.
Joe Root
“We have to be brave, we have to look at things differently than in the previous tours. I look back at the toss – I think it was the right decision. We didn’t do well in the first innings.
“I definitely take the confidence out of this game. There were times when we showed we were capable of topping Australia.
“We didn’t do it long enough. We were always behind the game after the first hour of the first day.
“We have to make sure we maintain equality and move forward and then back ourselves up to take opportunities. We have learned some hard lessons.
“Look at Mark Wood – he hit the bat 23 times and it’s impressive. I really believe if we had taken our chances and handled our first innings better, I would have been in a different position here.
So the story of if, but and maybe. The truth, however, is that Root was tracing the line between remaining Chipper and making fun of himself.
England were defeated and at any stage nothing seemed possible except an Australian victory.
It was not surprising that Root and Malan were unable to carry on their partnership on the fourth morning.
‘Disastrous power cut’
Left-handed Malan steered the pitch towards Nathan Lyon, jammed the ball into his pads and it fell into the hands of Marnus Labuschagne at silly point.
This was off-spinner Lyon’s 400th Test wicket. Then, unfortunately for England, Root struck a delivery from all-rounder Cameron Green and took a catch for 89 runs.
It was Root’s highest score in a Test match in Australia but England needed more than that, and more.
The rest of England’s second innings was badly broken. Ben Stokes gets caught in a terrifying foul against Pat Cummins and drops a catch for the alley.
Stokes made a disappointing return to cricket after self-exile since July, scoring 19 runs and failing to pick up wickets in 12 expensive overs.
A “catastrophic” power outage on the ground meant the TV world’s feed was cut short. No one around the world could see the pictures for 20 minutes.
England would have preferred the power cuts to last longer, so there was no video evidence of their downfall.
