England skittled once again as first Ashes Test motors towards early finish

England’s batting was blown away for the second time in as many days as the first Ashes Test motored towards an early finish in Perth.

The domination of ball over bat continued on day two, with England losing nine wickets for 99 in the afternoon session.

That left them 164 all out, leaving Australia chasing 205 to win a hyperactive game of cricket that has more than three scheduled days left.

With a 40-run first-innings lead in the bank England initially shrugged off Zak Crawley’s second duck of the match to move 105 in front while one down just after lunch.

But their hopes fell off a cliff edge as Australia forced error after error.

Ben Duckett nicked Scott Boland behind before a ruinous sequence that saw the middle-order engine room of Ollie Pope, Harry Brook and Joe Root dismissed in the space of six deliveries without a run added to the total.

Pope, who led a charmed life for his 33, finally provided the edge he had been threatening against Boland, who then got the dangerous Brook for nought as he fenced at just his third delivery.

Mitchell Starc then picked up the baton. Following career-best figures of seven for 58 in the first innings, as well as a second rout of Crawley in the morning, he sent Root’s stumps flying off a big inside edge before having England’s inspirational captain Ben Stokes caught in the cordon.

Jamie Smith was controversially given caught behind off Brendan Doggett, with a painfully long DRS review going with the bowler despite clear uncertainty over the UltraEdge technology.

From 104 for seven, England piled on a frantic 50 partnership as Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse took on a ring of boundary fielders, sharing three fours and four sixes.

But their luck ran out as the home side quelled the counter-attack just before the tea break, with Boland’s four for 33 the pick.