Sunday 21 / December / 2025
Adelaide : Centuries from Alex Carey and Travis Head, along with fiery spells from skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon, powered Australia overcome a valiant England during a record run-chase of 435 runs, as the visitors were bundled out for 352 runs in the third Ashes Test on Sunday, despite resillient knocks from Zak Crawley, Jamie Smith and Will Jacks that kept them in hunt.
With this 82-run win in the third Test, Australia have retained the Ashes urn and taken a 3-0 lead in the series. England's wait for a series win in Australia continues, having last won in the 2010/11 Ashes. Australia continue their dominant run at home, denying England another Test win and keeping them winless since their 2010/11 series.
England started the second session at 309/7, with Jacks (38*) and Carse (13*) unbeaten.
Jacks and Carse started off by rotating strike a bit, with Carse surviving a big lbw call against Pat Cummins.
Carse once settled, took the aerial route against Travis Head, while a four by Jacks trickling down fine leg not only brought up their 50-run stand, but also brought down the target to under 98 runs.
Mitchell Starc ended this promising 52-run stand courtesy of a screamer of a catch from Marnus Labuschagne at slips. Jacks was gone for a valiant 47 in 137 balls, with three fours. England was 337/8 in 97.2 overs.
Starc and Boland got the final two wickets, bundling out a valiant England for 352 runs, handing them an 82-run loss.
Cummins (3/48), Starc (3/62) and Lyon (3/77) were the pick of the bowlers for Australia.
At the end of the first session, England was 309/7, with Jacks (38*) and Carse (13*) unbeaten.
England started the final day at 207/6, with Will Jacks (11*) and Will Jacks (2*) unbeaten.
The duo started cautiously against Nathan Lyon and Cameron Green until it was Jamie who dispatched a Lyon delivery with a slog sweep for a six over deep mid-wicket in the 68th over and found another six over deep backward square leg against Green in the 71st over.
After a rain break, Jamie got more aggressive, finding some more boundaries against Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, a couple of part-timers. 250 was up for England in 77.5 overs. The duo had formed a fifty-run stand in 133 balls.
Jamie continued to give nerves to Aussie bowlers, clocking skipper Pat Cummins for two successive fours, one an authoritative hit over mid-off to bring his first Ashes fifty in 80 balls, with five fours and two sixes.
The partnership continued to grow, with Jamie shrugging off past failures with some shots oozing authority and power, including two back-to-back boundaries against Mitchell Starc, who had the new ball in hand.
However, the adrenaline of taking down bowlers got the best of Smith, as he ended up hitting an unnecessary aerial stroke against the left-armer, giving Cummins a catch and ending a fine knock at 60 in 83 balls, with seven fours and two sixes. Australia could breathe a little, with England at 285/7 after breaking off a 91-run stand with a wicket against the run of play.
England reached the 300-run mark in 86 overs, with Jacks and Carse continuing the fight for England and ending the session without any further casualties.
Earlier on day four, Australia started off things at 271/4, with Head (142*) and Carey (52*) in reply to England's first innings total of 286, which they had made in reply to 371 by Australia, who won the toss and chose to bat first. They led by 356 runs.
The visitors were more clinical with the ball in that first session, getting Head (170 in 219 balls, with 16 fours and two sixes) and Alex Carey (72 in 128 balls, with six fours) after they helped Aussies cross the 300-run mark. The tail was wiped off quickly as Aussies were bundled out for 349 runs, giving England a 434-run lead and 435 runs to win.
Josh Tongue (4/70) and Brydon Carse (3/80) were the pick of the bowlers for England. Jofra Archer, skipper Ben Stokes and Jacks had a wicket each.
During the run-chase, England lost Ben Duckett (4) and Ollie Pope (17) early, reducing to 31/2.
Joe Root (39 in 63 balls, with five fours) and Harry Brook (30 in 56 balls, with two fours) put on a 78-run stand and got promising starts but threw it away and failed to make it count with valuable milestones, while a determined Zak Crawley (85 in 151 balls, with eight fours), playing one of his career's finest knocks, also lost his wicket in a collapse which took England from 177/3 to 194/6, as Lyon and Cummins bowled probing spells testing England's patience and technique.
Jacks and Smith ended the fourth day for England at 207/6.
In their second innings, Australia had scored 349 runs, with Travis Head (170 in 219 balls, with 16 fours and two sixes) and Alex Carey (72 in 128 balls, with six fours) putting out stand out contributions, forming a 162-run partnership for the fifth wicket that completely outbatted England out of the game and left them with a record target to chase.
England trailed by 85 runs at the end of their first innings. Despite starts from Ben Duckett (29 in 30 balls, with five fours), Joe Root (19 in 31 balls, with three fours) and Harry Brook (45 in 83 balls, with two fours and a six), England had sunk to 168/8, before a 106-run stand between skipper Ben Stokes (83 in 198 balls, with eight fours) and Archer (51 in 105 balls, with five fours and a six) brought them back in the game and the trail was below 100 runs.
Boland (3/45), Cummins (3/69) and Lyon (2/70) were the top bowlers for Australia in England's first innings.
Australia won the toss and chose to bat first and were reduced to 94/4 in 24.3 overs courtesy fine spells from Carse and Archer.
It was Usman Khawaja (82 in 126 balls, with 10 fours) who had his veteran instincts kick in and put a 91-run stand for the fifth wicket with Alex Carey, who went on to score his maiden Ashes century, scoring 106 in 143 balls, with eight fours and a six. Starc continued his dream run with both bat and ball, stitching a half-century stand with Scott Boland (14*) and scoring a quickfire 75-ball 54, with nine fours. Australia scored 371 runs in the first innings.
Archer (5/53) was the pick of the bowlers for England, with Carse and Jacks getting two wickets.
Brief Scores: Australia: 371 and 349 (Travis Head 170, Alex Carey 72, Josh Tongue 4/70) and England: 286 and 352 (Zak Crawley 85, Jamie Smith 60, Pat Cummins 3/48).
