England lose Hameed as they chase 468 to beat Australia

England lost Haseeb Hameed for a duck as they reached 20-1 at tea chasing a massive 468 to win the second Ashes Test in Adelaide Sunday, needing a history-making miracle to avoid slumping 2-0 down in the series.

No team has ever posted such a big score in a fourth innings to win in the history of Test cricket -- with the West Indies' 418 for seven in beating Steve Waugh's Australia at St John's in 2003 the highest.

It is an even harder task at the Adelaide Oval, where Australia's 315 for six to defeat England in 1902 remains the best fourth-innings run chase.

England's problems stem from being bowled out, after a batting collapse, for 236 on Saturday in reply to Australia's 473 for nine declared.

The hosts resumed their second innings at 45 for one and declared on 230 for nine midway through the second session, giving their bowlers a crack at England with the pink ball as twilight loomed.

They immediately made inroads with Jhye Richardson steaming in to Hameed and the ball flying off his glove to wicketkeeper Alex Carey without scoring.

Rory Burns, desperate for runs after a lean spell, survived to the tea break on 16, with Dawid Malan not out four as England reached 20 for one.

Skipper Joe Root is due in next, after hurting his abdomen during a warm-up before play that saw him miss the opening 85 minutes while he went for a scan.

With England crashing by nine wickets in the first Test at Brisbane, their fragile batting line-up will need to survive four more sessions, two of them under lights, just to secure a draw and remain only 1-0 down heading into the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne in a week's time.

If they fail and go 2-0 down in Adelaide the Ashes are as good as gone. The only instance of a team coming from 2-0 down to win the Ashes was by Australia in the 1936-37 series.

Earlier, first-innings century-maker Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head both made 51 for Australia, steadying the innings after England took three quick wickets for seven runs.

Interim skipper Steve Smith could have gone for the jugular and enforced the follow-on on Saturday evening, but opted to send in his batsmen to build an unassailable advantage.

They lost David Warner, run out for 13 after an amateurish mix-up with Marcus Harris.

Harris resumed not out 21 with nightwatchman Michael Neser on two, but neither lasted long against veteran seamers Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Neser survived seven balls before a full-length Anderson delivery knocked over his middle stump, and Harris departed to a blinding catch from wicketkeeper Jos Buttler after getting a nick off Broad.

Buttler's celebrations were short-lived when he incredibly missed a regulation catch off Smith the very next ball, in a blunder reminiscent of the two sitters he put down from Labuschagne in Australia's first innings.

But he soon went from villain to hero again by taking another fine diving catch to remove Smith for six after an Ollie Robinson ball flicked off his gloves.

After his 148-ball 150 at the first Test in Brisbane, Head again played at a rapid clip, reaching his eighth Test half-century from 49 balls.

But he then attempted to pull Robinson and Ben Stokes took a brilliant catch in the deep.

Labuschagne took 96 balls to reach his 50 before he too holed out to Stokes, becoming part-time spinner Malan's first Test wicket, before late cameos added extra runs up to the declaration.

Check out DH's latest videos: