Joe Root insisted yesterday that England are still “massively” in the Ashes series despite falling 2-0 behind with a 120-run defeat in the second Test.

England arrived on the final day at the Adelaide Oval with an outside chance of sustaining their revival in the inaugural pink-ball Ashes encounter.

But after conceding a 215-run first-innings deficit, even James Anderson’s maiden five-wicket haul in Australia and then a battling half-century from the England captain himself could not truly turn back the tide.