He was aided by outstanding fielding, a notable contrast between the teams after England dropped five catches in Australia’s first innings.

Skipper Steven Smith snatched a stunning one-hander low to his left to end Jacks’ 92-ball grind, while wicketkeeper Alex Carey completed a stellar effort with the gloves by holding on to a nick up at the stumps to dismiss Stokes.

Any hope of a miracle ended with the sight of a forlorn Stokes trudging off the Gabba having given his all with 50 off 152 balls.

Needing just 65 runs for victory, Travis Head came out blazing as Australia raced to 33 for 0 after five overs but dinner was still taken despite fears of stormy weather closing in on the Brisbane area.

Head could not carry over the momentum on resumption, chopping on to Gus Atkinson who also nicked off Marnus Labuschagne. There were unexpected late fireworks when Smith and Jofra Archer had a war of words.

But Smith, fittingly, came out on top with a hooked six off a 150 kph Archer bumper before sealing the victory in style with a huge blow over deep square off Atkinson. Smith finished 23 not out off just nine balls to ensure England left the field in need of plenty of soul searching ahead of the third Test in Adelaide.

England will rue several passages of brainless play earlier in the match as their hopes of regaining the Ashes appear shot. Had they batted with the application and grit that Stokes and Jacks exhibited earlier than the match might have taken a different course.

But Australia thoroughly deserved their victory after such an even team performance. They outclassed and outsmarted England in another impressive effort without quicks Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

Smith continues to provide an excellent stand-in for Cummins as Australia’s mastery and experience of day-night cricket overwhelmed a ragged England.

The main question at the start of the day was how long would play last with the result basically a formality. England resumed their second innings in dire trouble at 134 for 6 and still 43 runs from making Australia bat again. With the knives out, a beleaguered England’s only hope seemingly rested on Stokes replicating his Headingley-esque heroics.

Going against type, a backs-to-the-wall approach was needed. Unlike a slew of his team-mates, Stokes had been very watchful late on day three to survive Australia’s onslaught and finish unbeaten on 4 from 24 balls. Under the baking sun, Stokes encountered far easier conditions with minimal swing on offer in a sedate start to the day’s play.

He crawled to 12 off 50 balls before cracking a superb cover drive off Brendan Doggett in the highlight of a dour 28-run opening hour. There wasn’t much out of the ordinary apart from when Stokes backed away anticipating a bouncer and proceeded to forehand smash the ball, forcing Doggett to do his own fielding to the boundary at long-off.

Australia’s quicks bowled excellently without reward and they tried different tactics in search of a breakthrough. In what had seemed unlikely at the start of the day, England hauled in the deficit prompting a standing ovation from the Barmy Army.

The 50-run partnership between Stokes and Jacks was brought up a run later to a ripple of mostly ironic cheers from the terraces. They scored at 2.45 – the slowest scoring rate of the 164 partnerships of 50-plus in the Bazball era.

Stokes had a nervous moment just before the elongated tea break when a short delivery from Scott Boland hit the shoulder of his bat and flew over a leaping Cameron Green in the gully.

With a wicket proving elusive for the quicks, Smith might have wished he could throw the ball to Lyon but, instead, he gave Head’s part-time spin a go. Labuschagne also unfurled his seam bowling in the last over before tea as Stokes and Jacks defied the odds in the first wicketless session of the series.

It was much the same early in the second session with Stokes digging in while Jacks, playing just his third Test, looked composed and balanced at the crease. Jacks brought up his first boundary of the day when he clipped beautifully through midwicket as he passed his previous Test high score of 31.

Smith had started to look frustrated in the field, but his mood brightened considerably when he took it upon himself to produce a moment of magic to end Jacks’ resistance.

Stokes had barely acknowledged his hard-fought half-century, knowing there was so much work still to do. But he soon walked off disappointed after falling to Neser, throwing his head back in agony with the bitter realisation that the match was effectively over.

England lost their last 4 for 17 in their latest collapse as Neser claimed his first five-wicket innings haul of his brief Test career when he dismissed Brydon Carse.

Smith equalled Rahul Dravid to sit second all time in outfield catches and he celebrated with gusto knowing Australia were on the brink of another big win over their hapless opponent.

Brief scores:
Australia 511 (Mitchell Starc 77, Jake Weatherald 72, Marnus Labuschagne 65, Steven Smith 61, Alex Carey 63;  Brydon Carse 4-152, Ben Stokes 3-113) and  69 for 2  beat England 334 (Joe Root 138*, Zak Crawley 76 Mitchell  Starc 6-75) and 241 (Ben Stokes 50, Michael Neser 5-42) by eight wickets

[Cricinfo]