Australia have won the Ashes outright after securing an 82-run victory in the third Test at the Adelaide Oval to take an unassailable 3-0 series lead.
Needing four wickets on day five, Australia achieved their feat to successfully and emphatically retain the Ashes inside 11 days – and extend England’s winless streak Down Under to 18 Tests.
There was some hope for England when a 40-minute rain delay and the partnership of Jamie Smith and Will Jacks saw them chip away at the 435-run target needed to keep the series alive.
However, the momentum turned in Australia’s favour when Smith went for 60 after miscuing an attempted boundary shot off Mitchell Starc’s bowling and being caught by Pat Cummins.
Jacks battled past lunch for his 47 but he edged a ball off Starc to first slip, where Marnus Labuschagne again took a breathtaking catch. Before his dismissal the Surrey man had built a 52-run partnership with Brydon Carse to give England some renewed hope.
Starc then Archer cut to deep point and when tailender Josh Tongue edged Scott Boland to Labuschagne England were all out for 352, sparking jubilation among Australia.
Reflecting on his side’s success, captain Cummins was proud of their achievements.
Pat Cummins: Australia’s Ashes win ‘feels pretty awesome’
‘It feels pretty awesome. An amazing series, one I’ve been thinking about for a long time,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t easy today, but we got it done, and there’s a pretty excited changing room in there.
‘One of the things I’m most proud about with this group is nothing ever really happens perfectly, there’s always something that gets thrown up, but this group just cracks on.
‘I missed the first couple of games, but Steve [Smith] steps right in and it’s seemless.
‘Nathan Lyon did his hamstring today, but the boys just say, “okay, that’s happened but let’s crack on”.
‘I think that’s one of the big reasons why we’ve had the success we’ve had the last couple of years.’
More misery for England
This is the fourth successive Ashes tour in which England have lost the first three Tests but there was optimism that England could emerge victorious under Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
Alas, that has not been the case and now they must dig deep to avoid a 5-0 series whitewash.
And speaking about their aspirations already being crushed, a ‘hurting’ Stokes admitted it is emotional and disappointing to think about.
‘That dream that we came here with is now over, which is obviously incredibly disappointing,’ he said.
‘Everyone is obviously hurting and quite emotional about it. But we’ve got two more games to go and that’s where the focus needs to switch to now.
‘We came here with a goal in mind and we’ve not been able to achieve that. It hurts and it sucks, but we’re not going to stop.’
England’s attempted second innings chase of 435 showed some fight – albeit it was too little too late in the outcome.
Ben Stokes’ rallying cry to his England team-mates
However, Stokes was pleased with that aspect of his side’s grit and has called for more of the same after questioning their toughness following the poor second Test defeat.
‘All of the stuff from last week about me wanting to see a bit more from the team, I can definitely say I saw that this week,’ Stokes said.
‘Some of the guys lower down the order dug in and showed that courage and fight that I was asking for.
‘Yes, we’ve been on the wrong side of the result, but I think we can take a lot from this game into the remaining two games.’
Stokes added: ‘Australia have just been able to execute things on a much more consistent basis than us – with the ball, the bat and in the field.
‘We’ve showed it in passages in this first three games, and this week I thought we did incredibly well to take it to where we did do in the fourth innings.
‘I thought we were on for another heist this morning when Jamie [Smith] and Will [Jacks] were playing so well, and though we now can’t do what we came here to do, there’s some good things to take out of this game.
‘We aren’t just going to fall over and let this series play out. We’re going to give absolutely everything.’
What next for the Ashes?
England next head to Melbourne for the fourth Test, which begins on Boxing Day, before the Ashes draws to a close in Sydney from January 4-8.
