Embarrassing graph puts England to shame in ugly Ashes debacle

England's batting woes have been laid bare by an embarrassing graph that shows 'extras' is the side's third-highest scorer this year.

Needing a win in the third Ashes Test to stay in the series, England require a miracle to fight their way back into the match and series that has spiralled out of control in the past two-and-a-half weeks.

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Aussie captain Pat Cummins claimed three wickets in the opening session on Sunday before the tourists were bundled out for 185.

Once again captain Joe Root was the only batsman to stand up for England, scoring a half-century as no one else managed more than 35.

It was an all-too familiar trend for Root and the England side, who have struggled to support their skipper all year.

In a graph that went viral on social media on Monday, Root's lack of support from his teammates was embarrassingly exposed.

The graph shows Root has scored 1680 runs in Test matches this year - the most ever by an Englishman in a calendar year and third-most by any player from all countries.

However the graph falls away shockingly after Root, with dropped opener Rory Burns second with 530 runs.

Embarrassingly, 'extras' is the third-highest scorer for England this year with 407 runs coming via sundries.

No-balls, wides, byes and leg-byes have made more runs for England than every other player except for Root and Burns.

England need a miracle to stay alive in Ashes series

Cummins' dramatic start to life as captain looks poised to earn Australia the Ashes inside three Tests after he set up a dominant Boxing Day for the hosts at the MCG.

In one-and-a-half Tests as captain, Cummins has 10 wickets at 12.5 after being flung into the captaincy after Tim Paine's shock resignation.

And after watching last week's Adelaide Test from his couch after being a close contact of a Covid-19 case, Cummins and his bowlers made a point to bowl full on a green wicket and was rewarded with a haul of 3-36.

"We tried to keep it really full in the first session," fellow quick and debutant Scott Boland said.

"Their batters were pretty conscious of wanting to leave the ball, so we tried to keep attacking them as much as we could.

"(We were) judging ourselves on how much we could make them play."

Both Root and Ben Stokes threw their wickets away, caught to balls they need not have played at outside the off stump in what has been a bugbear for the tourists this summer.

Root's innings was symbolic of his tour, out for 50 to Mitchell Starc when he was caught behind the wicket for the fifth-straight innings.

Stokes' dismissal came when he tried to uppercut Cameron Green over the slips on 25, but only aided the Australian allrounder's reputation as a giant-killer by hitting him to point.

Jos Buttler also went in careless fashion, caught on the leg-side boundary when he tried to take on Nathan Lyon (3-36) and found the only man out in the deep.

And while Jonny Bairstow put up some fight with 35 before a Starc ball followed him and caught him on the gloves, nothing could be done to save England's day.

Australia then exploded out of the blocks, with an assertive 38 from David Warner helping them to stumps at 1-61 and with the game firmly in their control.

with AAP

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