England left the field bruised, battered and broken after being put to the sword by the Aussies for the second successive day.
In fact, it has already become a sadly predictable feature of the tour. England have not been at the races since the coin first went up in Brisbane and things appear to be getting worse not better.
Their genuine stroke of bad luck was to lose the toss here and allow Australia first use of a batting paradise of a pitch, but rest assured that England will not find it as accommodating.
They have lost two wickets already in their pursuit of Australia’s first innings 473-9 declared, and if it wasn’t for a timely fork of lightning to bring about an earlier finish, it could have been worse.
Both openers Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed could and should still be batting, but their decision making was less than perfect after two days in the field.
Burns was squared up by one he should have left well alone on length, while Hameed flicked the ball straight to mid-on to gift Michael Neser a maiden Test wicket. It was the softest of dismissals.
Joe Root and Dawid Malan are the not out batsmen, and it is not too much of an exaggeration to say that England’s hopes for the future of this series now lie in their hands.
England would have arrived at the ground with a sense of trepidation, knowing that they were facing another long day getting cooked in the Adelaide sunshine.
The only way to prevent the most painful of experiences was to take the wickets that would get them off the ground as quickly as possible.
Marnus Labuschagne reached his 6th Test ton as expected without too much fuss and then Ollie Robinson struck, finding his edge and Jos Buttler taking the catch.
The Aussie No.3 got almost to the boundary edge before the third umpire revealed that Robinson had actually overstepped the line and it was a no-ball.
At that point, so early in the day, it was clear that England hadn’t learnt a jot from their experiences on this tour so far, and that they would be in for another day of torment.
A relieved Robinson made amends for his mistake by trapping Labuschagne just one run later lbw for 103 to end a charmed innings.
And Joe Root did well to york Travis Head for just 18 with one that dipped beautifully to bowl the first Test centurion.
So when Ben Stokes cleaned up Cam Green for two with one that did just enough to clip the off stump, England had made decent progress by the first break.
The problem was that Steve Smith and Alex Carey were still together and looking increasingly assured as England’s bowlers began to wilt for a second day.
To the two certainties in life you can add big Ashes runs for Smith, and with the captaincy for this game, his determination to make it count was obvious.
There were the usual ticks and idiosyncrasies that come with every Smith innings, but there was an air of inevitability about his march towards a 12th Ashes hundred.
Carey was pugnacious and positive at the other end, confirming fears that the demise of Tim Paine for extra textular activities was actually a boost for Australia rather than a setback.
The pair added a ruthless 91 for the sixth wicket to grind England’s bowlers every further into the dirt, ensuring that the aches they would be feeling in their legs would also be felt in Melbourne and beyond.
It was a surprise then to see Smith fall at all when Jimmy Anderson got one to nip back and keep a little low to trap him lbw for 93.
Australia were cruising, just looking for some quick runs as the evening session got underway and boy did their lower order deliver with Carey making 51 before Mitchell Starc and Michael Neser teed off to their heart's content.
Starc’s 39 not out and Neser’s 35 put the icing on the cake for the Aussies as England left the field with a giant total to try and eat into.
Unfortunately the Aussie bowlers took a bigger bite out of their top order first.
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