Lyon the day-five dangerman in Adelaide

Travis Head has warned England they should never feel properly in against Nathan Lyon on day five in Adelaide as Australia hunt a 2-0 lead in the Ashes.

England face a mighty task to save the second Vodafone Test, resuming at 4-82 in pursuit of a target of 468 and needing to bat out all of Monday with just six wickets to force a draw.

With 43.2 overs already bowled and Joe Root out, England would need to become just the sixth side this century to bat out 134 overs in a fourth-innings to force a draw.

And the tourists' task is made no easier by a wicket that has already shown plenty of bite and turn throughout the game.

Long ago Lyon was the target of unjust criticism for an inability to spin Australia to fourth-innings wins, but he has made the job his own at Adelaide Oval over the years.

He took a five-wicket haul against Pakistan two summers ago to take Australia to a big win, and memorably did likewise on the ground against India in the emotion-charged Test in 2014 following the death of Phillip Hughes.

Another two wickets will also see him draw level with Shane Warne for the all-time leading Test wicket-taker on the ground, with 56.

"Having played against him on this wicket, you can feel like you're in against him," Head said after day four.

"Like we saw in the first innings, you might feel comfortable, and there was a period there where Gaz might not (have felt) like he's in the game, the ball is spinning consistently past the bat (and you wonder) when's the opportunity going to come?

"Then once that does come it sort of opens it up.

"No doubt there'll be periods (on day five) when we do get a breakthrough, he's going to be key in the first 10, 20 balls the (new) batter faces.

"We know we can hold sustained pressure with Gaz, that he is going to create opportunities."

A loss for England would be near fatal for their hopes of regaining the Ashes, given only Australia's team in 1936-37 has come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a five-Test series.

Ben Stokes looms as England's last real hope, needing something akin to his Headingley heroics in 2019 to save the game.

The allrounder has slowly worked his way into the series, admitting he was unhappy with his returns in Brisbane before being let down by his lower order in the first innings in Adelaide.

"They've still got some quality players," Head said. 

"Stokesy in the first innings set himself really well but ran out of partners.

"We know he's a huge wicket tomorrow in the scheme of things. 

"He played really well tonight (soaking up 40 deliveries to be three not out), letting the ball come to him and his defence is pretty sound."

Vodafone Men's Ashes

Squads

Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

England: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Schedule

First Test: Australia won by nine wickets

Second Test: December 16-20, Adelaide Oval

Third Test: December 26-30, MCG

Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG

Fifth Test: January 14-18, Blundstone Arena