Ashes: Johnson at it again as England crumble

Adelaide, Dec 7 (IANS) Despite bowling out England for 172 with pacer Mitchell Johnson picking up seven for 40 runs, Australia decided not to enforce the follow-on and bat a second time, ending day three of the second Ashes Test with a 530-run lead here Saturday

The English batting crumbled for the second Test running, handing Australia a mammoth 398-run first innings lead.

Instead of enforcing a follow-on, Australia came out to bat and ended the day 132 for three, largely thanks to David Warner’s quick-fire 83 not out of 117 balls.

First innings centurion Michael Clarke fell for 22 and was the biggest scalp of the day for the English. Chris Rogers (2) and Shane Watson (0) failed to impressive, falling in the space of three deliveries.

Steven Smith (23 not out) was the other unbeaten batsman when stumps was called.

Starting the day 35 for one, England lost Joe Root (15) and Kevin Pietersen (4) without putting much of a fight.

Michael Carberry (60), playing only his third Test, held one end up and along with Ian Bell (72 not out) started a mini-revival.

However, after Carberry fell to Watson, it was a Johnson show as the left-arm pacer picked up the next six English wickets to fall with the visitors adding just 55 runs.

Australia had scored a massive 570 for nine declared in their first innings with Clarke scoring 148 and Brad Haddin smashing 118 runs.