Ashes 2017/18, 2nd Test: 5 things that went wrong for England

England's batsmen could not capitalise on the second-innings fightback from their bowlers as Australia strolled to a 120-run win in Adelaide to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match Ashes Test series.

Needing 354 to win, England began day five on 176 for 4, but Josh Hazlewood removed Chris Woakes on the second ball and Joe Root two overs later to rattle visitor's hopes of an unlikely win.

Root's departure more or less sealed England's fate and Moeen Ali's wicket, six overs later, was the final nail in the coffin.Mitchell Starc was at his ruthless best as he wrapped it up quickly with the second new ball to finish with figures of 5 for 88.

England lost six wickets in the first session on day five and were bowled out for 233, as Australia became the first team to win a day-night Test after batting first.

Now that the hosts are 2-0 up in the series ahead of the Perth Test, let's have a look at the five things that went wrong for England.

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Top-order failure

England's top-order once again failed to give their team a good start and lay a solid foundation for a huge score.

After Australia declared their first innings on 442/8 on day two, the visitors' openers could not hold the fort and England were all out for 227.

The pattern continued in the second innings as well. England required 354 runs to win but their batsmen could not replicate the excellent work done by their bowlers as they fell short by 120 runs in the end.

The form of Alastair Cook, who scored 53 in two innings, has been one of the biggest concerns for Joe Root in the ongoing series.

Middle-order failure

Australia's top-order did not do wonders but their middle-order rose to the occasion and added valuable runs to the hosts' first-innings total. England lacked in that department as well.

Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine and tail-ender Pat Cummins were chiefly responsible for Australia's huge first innings lead but their English counterparts could not produce anything special.

There were a lot of expectations from Moeen Ali in the absence of Ben Stokes but he could not deliver either. The second innings performance was even worse than the first as England were all out for 233 in the first session on day 5 losing the match by 120 runs.

Bowling too short in the first innings

Joe Root won the toss and invited Australia to bat but the English bowlers could not make the most of the advantage they received right at the outset.

Cameron Bancroft was undone by an unfortunate mix up but all the other Australian batsmen found it quite easy to score in the first innings, as all of them reached double figures except tail-ender Mitchell Starc.

Craig Overton did claim three Australian wickets in the first innings but overall the English bowling attack looked quite ordinary against the hosts.

Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine and Pat Cummins had a great time on day 2 as England's short-pitched bowling made it quite easy for the Aussies to add some extra runs to their first-innings total and put pressure on the visiting side.

The form of Moeen Ali

England are definitely missing Ben Stokes and it became even more evident in Adelaide. The world's best all-rounder has the ability to turn things around and with his name in the playing XI, the English batting runs deep.

Moeen Ali, who has been England's go-to man in the past, has been completely out of touch in Australia.

Ali, who has just two wickets in the series so far, remained wicketless in the second Test.

The 30-year-old, who was lined-up as a specialist batsman for the day-night Test owing to a finger injury, could not chip in with the bat as well as he ended up scoring just 27 runs in two innings.

Failure to convert starts

Failure to convert starts has to be the biggest problem that England batsmen are facing on their ongoing Ashes tour.

The visitors faced this problem at the Gabba and their batting woes followed them to Adelaide as well.

From Alastair Cook to Joe Root, most of the English batsmen started off well and took their time to settle in but could not convert them into the fifties and hundreds.

Cook, whose defence and footwork were much better in Adelaide, threw away his wicket against Nathan Lyon after facing more than fifty deliveries on both the occasions.

Skipper Root, who was dismissed on nine runs in the first innings, made amends by scoring 67 in the second but it was not enough as his team fell short by 120 runs and lost the match.