Brisbane: Oh how they tried. Ben Stokes, not unexpectedly, and Will Jacks very much surprisingly, defied Australia for more than three hours of hard-nosed and gloriously orthodox Test cricket at the Gabba.

This was anything but Bazball, more like Cook or Goochball, and the change of pace offered an enriching period of watching and contemplation for 27,888 spectators.

Ben Stokes in the moments after his dismissal.Credit: Getty Images

Why had England waited until the game was almost gone to try to respect the conditions and match situation? Was it really that hard to do if Stokes and Jacks could do it here? And would Australia already be 2-0 up in this Ashes series if England had deigned to be even a little more sensible?

Certainly those questions had to have run through the anguished mind of Stokes when he and Jacks finally fell after such grand resistance. And they only got louder amid the futility of Jofra Archer trying to verbal Steve Smith with only a handful of runs left to get. Too late, mate.

Late fight: Steve Smith exchanges words with Jofra Archer.Credit: Getty Images

Smith’s men had maintained pressure all day, giving away very little in the way of width, so that when the breakthroughs finally came to the persistent Michael Neser, the England lead was still pitifully small.

Neser, a rare softly spoken Queenslander, had hit the “good areas” as........

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