Third Ashes Test, Adelaide Oval (Day 5 of five)
Australia 371: Carey 106; Archers 5-53 &349： Head 170; tongue 4-70
England 286: Stokes 83; Bolan 3-45 &352： Crowley 85; Cummins 3-48
Australia win by 82 runs to take a 3-0 lead in the five-match series
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scorecard
England’s Baz Power regime is in tatters and Australia’s other Ashes side have failed in three Tests.
The tourists lost by 82 runs on day five of the third Test in Adelaide, falling 0-3 down and extending the country’s winless run to 18 matches.
Australia’s match was delayed by 40-minute showers and hamstring injuries to England’s Jamie Smith and Will Jacks, as well as spinner Nathan Lyon.
Smith scored 60 points when he misjudged Mitchell Starc. Jacks battled through lunch to score 47 before bowling the same bowler for first slip, with Marnus Labuschagne taking another stunning catch.
By the time Josh Tongue beat Scott Boland to Labuschagne, England were at full strength on 352 and their misery in this country lasted 14 years and counting.
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This was supposed to be England’s final chance to play in Australia, the most anticipated Ashes tournament in recent years.
Instead, it turned into the worst tour in recent years, leaving the futures of captain Ben Stokes, head coach Brendan McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key in doubt.
England gave up the chance of winning the Ashes after just 11 days of cricket and now must find a result in Melbourne or Sydney to avoid the ultimate humiliation of a 5-0 sweep.
This is the fourth consecutive time England have lost their first three Test matches on the Ashes tour. By the time Australia visit England in 2027, it will have been 12 years since England last won the Ashes.
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There will be fierce debate over who takes charge of the England team. Stokes and McCullum are contracted until the end of the series. In theory, Key has the greatest influence on the fate of the two, but he may be under more pressure than both.
It was a stunning win for the Australians, who had questioned their line-up selection and age at the start of the series.
Captain Pat Cummins missed the first two Tests, Josh Hazlewood missed the entire series, Lyon missed the second Test and Steve Smith missed the Adelaide game.
Australia are still too good for England as they have been at home since 2011.
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Bazball is defeated and broken by his oldest opponent
Stokes said the tour was his England team’s chance to “make history”, while McCullum claimed the Ashes could “define” his side.
England will be defined as the losers of this country, their history intertwined with and belittled by all the other Ashes visitors.
Bazball’s ideology has been exposed by Australia’s stubborn, ruthless and ruthless Test cricket. Despite England’s 2-2 draw with England two years ago, people in this country have always been skeptical, even ridiculed, of England’s playing style. Australia was proven right.
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England’s selection, preparation and approach were all considered flawed. The tour will be remembered for the disdain shown in the warm-up games, Noosa and Stokes talking about “weak” holidays in the dressing room.
England made progress in Adelaide over the first two Tests but still made too many mistakes.
The tourists went into the tournament without specialist spinners, dismissing Usman Khawaja on the first morning, with Ollie Pope and Harry Brooke bowling poorly in the first and second innings respectively. In England’s defence, they did get the wrong end of the stick in the Alex Carey Snicko controversy.
The 5-0 embarrassment looks inevitable. Pope is certain to be left out of the fourth Test in Melbourne, although England’s only replacement batsman is Jacob Bethell – a 22-year-old who still hits a first-class hundred.
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Shoaib Bashir was chosen as England’s first-choice spinner and looked to be a no-brainer. Matthew Potts and Matthew Fisher are the two seamers who are yet to feature in this series, but neither will be in the squad if the other bowlers are fit and available.
An Ashes defeat in Australia usually means a complete change of regime in England and the bloodshed will soon begin. Until then, things could get worse on the pitch.
Awesome, Australia will do it again
Australia was billed as aging, injury-plagued and struggling to identify open partnerships.
Could the outcome of this series have been different if Travis Head had not come on to replace the injured Khawaja in the second innings of the first Test in Perth? Hyde’s match-winning century was one of the greatest Ashes moments and gave Australia the motivation to never give up.
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Starc’s bowling had overwhelmed England in the first two Tests – almost single-handedly covering Cummins and Hazlewood. Carey is putting together one of the greatest displays of glove work a goaltender has ever seen into one series.
Cummins was in danger of missing the series with a back injury but accelerated his recovery and returned to Adelaide. The captain was outstanding despite not having played since July.
This will surely be the last home Ashes for these players, who will now set their sights on joining three other Australian teams in a 5-0 sweep of England.
That will be followed by a return series in England in the summer of 2027, and a final frontier win away at the Ashes – a goal Australia has not achieved since 2001.
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Last rites in the city of cathedrals
England opened with 207 for 6, 228, and were within a whisker of completing the highest successful chase in Test history. Ticket prices have been slashed despite Adelaide Oval being less than a quarter full.
Smith hit two sixes down the leg side before the rain stopped, raising concerns when Jakes sprained his ankle while hitting a single.
Smith continued to attack with crisp drives after play resumed, while Lyon departed after a dive on the fine-leg boundary and is now in doubt for the rest of the series.
Australia got the second new ball when Smith pushed Cummins over his head to reach his first Ashes half-century, only to try too many shots on Starc. Cummins pulled back beautifully in the middle of the over to end the match on 91 for the seventh wicket.
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The Jax found a willing ally in Brydon Carse for 52. Starc returned from lunch and Jacks had the advantage, with Labuschagne making a superb one-handed grab when he dipped low to his left for the second time of the game.
Starc got Jofra Archer to cut deep and the last man’s tongue stabbed Bolan and the Ashes was once again safely in Australia’s hands.
