England struggled to pick up three Australian wickets in the final session but still trailed by 152 runs at the end of the second day of the fifth and final Ashes Test in Hobart on Saturday.
After taking a 115-run lead when he was bowled out for 188 in his first innings, the visitors bounced back in the final hour of the night session of the day-night Test.
With an hour to bat before stumps, Australia lost David Warner for the second duck of the match, brilliantly caught by Ollie Pope off Stuart Broad.
Marnus Labuschagne fell for five off Chris Woakes off wicketkeeper Sam Billings, while Mark Wood dismissed Billings for 11 off Usman Khawaja.
At stumps, Australia were 37-3 with Steve Smith on 17 and nightwatchman Scott Boland on three.
Australian captain Pat Cummins said that his team has done well to not lose any more wickets.
Cummins said, “If you are caught out with the new ball, then in day and night cricket you have to be careful with these kinds of night sessions.”
He said, ‘It was hot and humid tonight and the ball was doing too much.
“I think it’s a very good effort to just be down to three in really tough situations.”
Billings, making his Test debut, was optimistic about the result.
“We bowled really well tonight, we created some chances, created a lot of intensity,” he said.
“They are at the forefront of the game, but we have a chance to really make a statement and make some inroads in the morning.”
England had earlier bowled Australia out for 303 after 17 wickets fell for 287 runs.
Australia are still in a commanding position and are likely to win this Test and claim a 4-0 win in the series.
Any hope of England getting anything out of the Ashes was virtually extinguished when their batting collapsed once again in the face of a relentless pace attack from Australia.
England lost four crucial wickets in the mid-twilight session when David Malan (25), Joe Root (34) and Ben Stokes (4) fell for only seven runs.
When the final session began, England again lost wickets at regular intervals and reached only 188 due to some late hits from bowlers Chris Woakes (36) and Mark Wood (16).
The visitors have already lost the Ashes, 3–0 down, and their batting weaknesses that torpedoed the series were once again ruthlessly exposed.
England had dismissed the hosts midway through the first session, but then their innings got off to a disastrous start when recalled opener Rory Burns was run out for no score with just two runs on the board.
Fellow opener Zak Crawley knocked a ball in front of him and called for a quick single, but the much-maligned Burns was slow to react and Labuschagne’s direct hit found him centimeters short of his ground.
Crowley, who scored a fine 77 in England’s second innings at Sydney, looked confident again until on 18 he found an inside edge on his pad off Cummins and Travis Head left England 29-2. A sharp catch is taken at short leg.
Captain Root joined Malan at the crease as the pair tried to rebuild England’s innings.
Both men looked comfortable for the most part and were scoring independently, reaping great rewards for their shots on the lightning-fast Bellerive Oval outfield.
However, Cummins brought himself back into the attack with an immediate dividend when Malan bowled the ball straight to wicketkeeper Alex Carey from the leg-side.
He then dismissed Root lbw to leave England at 81-4 and four runs later, Stokes slapped a short delivery from Mitchell Starc to point-diving Nathan Lyon.
Pope also did not last long and England’s only shining spark was Billings, who scored 29 runs with six boundaries before being dismissed at the fine leg boundary.
Cummins was the pick of the Australian attack with 4-45, while Mitchell Starc made 3-53 runs with two late wickets.