Australia will have more chances to retain the Ashes, and maybe it was the knowledge of this luxury that led to their wastefulness on Wednesday.

If you could put the urn on a platter, it would look like this: Adelaide Oval, toasting heat, weakened opponent and the skipper is grinning and making a batting signal after the toss. Keep England in the field until Thursday afternoon when they’ll be hotter than the tea urn.

Responsibility for carrying out the plan, however, was passed on like it was too scalding to handle. Batsmen kept leaving hot messes for someone else to clean up. Eventually, the job fell to Mitchell Starc, of course, and Alex Carey, who does everything that Starc doesn’t.

By the end, the first day’s output of 8-326, which would have been outstanding in Perth and good in Brisbane, was just passable in Adelaide, a city where nobody usually turns down an invitation.

Opportunity knocked for every Australian batsman, but none more than it did for Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green. Khawaja, his late inclusion a 39th birthday gift, made sure that Steve........

© The Sydney Morning Herald