Had Australia taken their chances things may have been different. They dropped three catches,claimed a wicket off a no ball and,bizarrely,Cameron Green bowled Stokes when he was just 16,but the bails stayed on after the ball clipped the off stump.

There was a significant deviation which prompted umpire Paul Reiffel to give Stokes out leg before wicket not playing a shot,but Stokes survived after a review showed his pad was nowhere near the ball.

Stokes probably felt he was due some luck.

Stokes defied an injured side,a temperamental pitch and a relentless Australia attack,while Bairstow required treatment on the field after a nasty blow from Pat Cummins bent back the batsman’s right thumb.

“It takes quite a bit to get me off the park,” Bairstow said. “It was sore but in the circumstances of the game it was one of those where it was a decision I made to stay out there.

“The medics can give you advice,but ultimately you’re out there playing in an Ashes New Year’s Test match on pink[Jane McGrath] day in front of a crowd. It’s going to take a lot to get you away from that.”

Bairstow joined Stokes with England listing badly at 4-36 replying to Australia’s 8-416 declared,and both copped a pounding from lifting deliveries while making their highest scores of the tour.

Australia regained the Ashes during the previous Test in Melbourne after bowling England out for 68 to win by an innings.

With Bairstow making more than that on his own,it was his highest score in 40 innings since his last century against Sri Lanka in Colombo in November 2018.

A similar surrender to Melbourne appeared to be unfolding when the pair came together and there was doubt how long Stokes would last as he grimaced and held his stretched side every time he played a shot.

This was compounded by a nasty ball from Green,which flew to hit Stokes on the left index finger that required two operations and months of rehabilitation before he was a late starter on this tour.

Stoic defence turned to attack and then full-blooded assault as they took to Nathan Lyon,with Stokes smashing a six over extra over. But Lyon won that battle,claiming Stokes leg before wicket.

England’s top order crumbled again,with Root the saddest departure as he flirted at a ball from Boland and was well caught high at second slip by a stretching Steve Smith.

His seven-ball duck was in the middle of a sequence where England lost a remarkable 3-0 during a scoreless drought of 70 balls,and Boland went to lunch with the remarkable figures of four overs,four maidens,2-0.