Warner and Bancroft march Australia towards victory

Australia 328 (Smith 141*, Marsh 51) and 0 for 114 (Warner 60*, Bancroft 51*) trail England 302 and 195 (Root 51, Bairstow 42) by 56 runs

and ball-by-ball details

In the final analysis, it has been a slaughter, but England's latest trip to the Gabbatoir has turned out to be a more humane affair than some of their more gory predecessors.

Their decisive second innings may have been topped and tailed by some traditional fast-bowling savagery, with Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins claiming 4 for 10 in 21 balls to finish the work that Josh Hazlewood had started with the new ball on the third evening. But the extinguishing of English hope was left to David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, whose utterly unhurried opening partnership of 114 in 34 overs made mincemeat of what could have been an awkward victory target of 170.

It was a curiously flat finale to a contest in which the momentum had not so much swung as vibrated from session to session. But, after a final burst of violent lurches one way and then the other on the fourth afternoon, Australia's traditional dominance at their favourite home venue came flooding to the fore in a one-sided finale.

Warner, whose second-innings onslaughts had been such a crucial factor in the 5-0 whitewash in 2013-14, took a more measured route to his latest Ashes half-century, which came from 74 balls with not so much as a boundary until his 27th delivery.

But he did not need to rush on this occasion - worryingly for England, where the Aussie quicks had been able to threaten with pace through the air, even when the wicket had been at its most sluggish, England's own mid-80mph seamers relied exclusively on the new ball for their breakthroughs, and once James Anderson and Stuart Broad had been neutered in a watchful start from Australia's openers, the rest of the attack proved toothless.

In particular, Moeen Ali - whose spinning finger was glued together after being lacerated by the Kookaburra seam in the first innings - was unable to replicate either the turn or the bounce generated by Australia's own offspinner, Nathan Lyon. Emboldened by his lack of threat, the debutant Bancroft pumped him over long-off for six en route to a maiden Test half-century, as Moeen's contribution was limited to four unthreatening overs.

Moeen was, however, involved in arguably the decisive moment of the fourth day, and certainly the most controversial, when he was adjudged stumped for 40 off the bowling of Lyon - the very definition of a line call as the third umpire Chris Gaffaney adjudged his toe to be on the crease but not behind it as wicketkeeper Tim Paine whipped off the bails.

It was a crucial moment of what had been a gripping afternoon session, for Moeen's positive attitude to England's adversity had taken the attack back to Australia after their hopes of posting a defendable total had taken a big hit in the final moments before lunch, when Hazlewood had pinned Joe Root lbw for 51 to undermine the foundations of their innings.

With Jonny Bairstow alongside him to chivvy the ones into twos and force Australia to keep an eye on the scoring rate as well as the wickets column, Moeen came out swinging after lunch. From the outset, he used his feet against Lyon where his fellow left-handers, Mark Stoneman and Dawid Malan, had been caught on the crease, dumping a four over long-on in the first over of the resumption before nailing a sweep through midwicket two balls later.

His approach did not trigger a deluge of runs by current Test standards, but in the context of an atypically low-scoring contest, it provided England with crucial breathing space, after they had lost five wickets for 113 in a frenetic start to their second innings. But, Lyon - such a threat in both innings - eventually got his revenge, ripping a sharp turner past Moeen's long stretch down the wicket, and Paine, whose glovework has been maligned since his drop of James Vince on the first day, showed lightning reflexes to whip off the bails before Moeen could ensure his foot was fully grounded.

Reaction to the decision was predictably polarised. Some viewers saw no controversy whatsoever, others quibbled both with the notion of the benefit of any doubt going to the batsman, and with the geometry of the crease itself, with images on Twitter suggesting that the line was wider in the middle of the crease than at either end. Either way, it all added up to a whole lot of not-a-lot. In the post-mortem of this contest, England's inability to press home several moments of apparent dominance will be of far greater concern that one 50-50 umpiring call.

Chris Woakes, on a pair, came through a skittish start to help Bairstow add 30 runs for the seventh wicket, and take the lead past 150, but with tea approaching, Starc struck with a vengeance to rip England's resistance to shreds.

Despite appearing to feel pain in his right ankle on a couple of occasions, Starc summoned the fury that had served Australia so well on the third evening to extract three wickets in ten balls - another example of his matchless ability to dock Test-match tails.

Woakes was the first to go, caught fencing in the cordon as he was shocked by the short ball, and sent on his way for 17. But it was Bairstow's departure, one over later, that truly wrecked England's hopes. Another sharp short ball lured Bairstow into a ramp to third man, but Peter Handscomb had just been brought into a catching position and gleefully accepted the offering to send Bairstow on his way for 42.

At 8 for 194 with just the bowlers to come, England's prospects were looking bleak. But even so, their next wicket came as a surprise to both Starc and the batsman, Broad, who appeared to have been beaten by a full-length snorter outside off. However, Paine was adamant he had heard a noise, and with little to lose, Steve Smith opted for a review. Sure enough, a thin nick showed up on Hot Spot, and Broad was gone for 2.

And it was left to Cummins to head-hunt the final wicket, as Jake Ball flapped another fierce bouncer over the cordon to Handscomb at a well-positioned fly slip. It all amounted to England's second bona fide batting collapse of the Test. And Warner was lying in wait to snuff out any lingering hope.