Ollie Pope lingered for a while in the middle of the Adelaide Oval, having been dismissed early on day two of the third Ashes Test. A team man, the crestfallen Pope would have only been thinking about the door he had just unlocked and pushed open for Australia - a door the hosts would spend the day strolling straight through. But in that moment, as Pope turned for the dressing room and respite from the baking sun, you could not help but feel this was a final chance slipping away.

England needed runs from their number three in Adelaide more than ever. All he delivered was an all too familiar failure. The promise the 27-year-old right-hander showed in making a 46 in the first innings of the first Test in Perth now looks as distant as England's hopes of regaining the urn. There was a tight lbw decision that went against him - he missed a straight ball from Cameron Green that would have only just clipped leg stump - in one of those sliding doors moments that litters the sport.

Having started the series looking calm and assured, Pope has returned to his old ways on his journey to Adelaide via two horror dismissals in Brisbane. On Thursday, in one over from Scott Boland, he was hit by a bouncer, almost pinned lbw, and missed with a wild waft reminiscent of the second of those Brisbane brain fades. In the next, he drove Nathan Lyon, who had already dismissed him three times in 79 balls in his career, to mid-off and then tamely forced the next ball to mid-wicket with a flick. Jerky and skittish after starting a series well. We have been here before.

"It is hard, we have all been there," Dawid Malan, England's number three on their last Ashes tour, told BBC Sport. "You are desperate to score and are thinking, 'Should I just defend and survive?'" It looks to me that he is trying so hard to get himself a start that he is hanging the bat, and he is too frantic about how he goes about scoring.

Maybe Pope cares too much. Whenever captain Ben Stokes, whose "weak men" comments last week must still be ringing in England players' ears, has previously defended Pope's form or position he has pointed to his former vice-captain's average at number three. This three from 10 balls took that average at first drop below 40 for the first time since his first summer in the position in 2022, when 'Bazball' was born in the aftermath of England's last dismal Ashes trip down under.

In those heady days, having taken on the role when no team-mate wanted it, Pope's average at number three after 13 Tests stood impressively at 49.80. It has now dropped to 39.96.

"The best advice I was ever given was from Eoin Morgan - and I think he got it from Ricky Ponting - play the game at your own pace," said Malan. "Slow everything down, if you feel like you are a bit anxious, feel like your heart is going, feel like you are not fully ready or fully focused on the ball, take a step away. The worst that is going to happen is the umpire is going to say hurry up and you say sorry."

The highlight of Pope's England career remains his extraordinary, match-winning 196 against India in Hyderabad in February 2024. That epic knock, undoubtedly one of the best by an England batter overseas, was supposed to give Pope the confidence to kick on and fulfil his undoubted talent. But his returns since represent a steady decline.

He has scored 28.83 runs per dismissal against teams in the World Test Championship across 24 Tests. There have been peaks - another hundred against India at the start of the summer at Headingley - but 15 single-figure scores to go with three centuries. Pope's record against Australia also now stands at 15 innings with no fifties, at an average of 17.66. Only one Englishman, MJK Smith, who played Australia nine times between 1961 and 1972, has padded up as many times against the Australians without earning himself the chance to wave his bat at 50.

There is a world where we did not get to this point. Pope dislocated his shoulder diving in the field during the 2023 Ashes at Lord's, which spared him three more Tests against Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and co. Had he failed three more times there, Hyderabad may not have been possible. But, having recalled him then and retained him since, England must also take some of the blame for Pope's struggles.

Throughout 2025 they have flirted with dropping him for 21-year-old Jacob Bethell, who stepped in as number three during last year's tour of New Zealand. Stokes said his comments had been twisted to suit an "agenda" when the discussion came to a head during the first Test against Zimbabwe in May. Any speculation England would replace Pope with Bethell was not made in isolation, however. As recently as September managing director Rob Key left the door open for a change.

England have repeatedly talked up their bright new thing. The result has been a situation that has suited neither man. Bethell barely played all summer, meaning if he does come in for the fourth Test in Melbourne he will do so having batted in one first XI match against a red ball for county or country in more than a year, while Pope has gone on without the security that brought success in those early months in the role. Don't forget how he also had the vice-captaincy taken from him on the eve of the Ashes.

There remains a possibility of both Pope and Bethell playing next week, if England deem wicketkeeper Jamie Smith's poor run such that he would be best removed from the spotlight. In six Tests standing in as keeper Pope averages 45.60 with the bat - the best average for an England keeper in 132 years.

"I'm not saying I would go that way, but that's one option - move Ollie down and keep," says former England captain Michael Vaughan. "At number three he's done. Ollie has had a lot of chances, but at number three I don't think it's working." More likely, though, after 64 Tests and 34 as number three, Pope has one innings to save that prized position.