Sydney: England meekly surrendered the Ashes on the morning of the third day of the third Test as Australia crushed them by an innings and 14 runs to take an unassailable 3-0 series lead.
Resuming on 31-4, England were bowled out for just 68 inside 81 minutes, with debutant Scott Boland taking an astonishing 6-7.
Their final five wickets fell in the space of 29 balls as England offered the weakest of resistance in front of a jubilant home crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
England’s 68 all out is their lowest total in Australia since March 1904 and their ninth lowest score against them in Tests.
The result means Australia have retained the Ashes after just 12 days of cricket and will be eyeing a 5-0 series win.
The fourth Test will begin in Sydney on 4 January.
Scott Boland, MoM (Mullagh medal), said, ‘ Can’t really believe. We thought we had a chance of winning today when we came in, but just not so quickly. I came to know on Christmas Eve, and had a lot of support from teammates and family. It was a big step up from anything that I have played, and I knew it would be tough. I want to thank the crowd for all their support over the last three days, really appreciate it. There were about 17 of us who learnt about that tour of 1868, and my family and I are very proud about winning this award. I would like to thank the coaches for getting this chance to play on my homeground, and would also like to thank my parents, my wife and my two kids’.
Pat Cummins, Winning skipper, said, ‘ It is pretty insane. Just a awesome few weeks, so proud of the group as everything clicked and everything worked out. Thrilled for Scott Boland playing in front of his home crowd here. We have been relentless. The bowlers have just turned up and owned their areas outside off-stump. There have been big partnerships, everyone’s performed, everyone’s contributed – it’s a great feeling. The batsmen have left well and have been brave when the opportunities have presented themselves. Neser was disappointed after bowling so well last week to not get a chance in this game. But we have a big pool to pick from. We knew whoever steps in will do a great job. We were really confident that Scotty would do a great job; maybe not 6 for 7 (laughs). Any Ashes series is where you make a mark in Test cricket. The last series was 4-0, the one before that was 5-0, and it is a chance for us to cement our identity in the next few years.’
Joe Root, Losing skipper, said, ‘It is what it is. We have come to dealing with this sort of an environment for a while now. Credit to Australia, they blew us away last night, and they have outplayed us in this Test match, in fact the series so far. We have a lot of hard work to do now and come back strong in the last two games. Covid threat wasn’t ideal. The way we went about our cricket, especially our bowling was excellent yesterday. Credit to the boys for managing it and giving ourselves a chance in this game. We just have got to do things for longer. There have been pockets, but that’s just not enough. We know where we need to work and we have to stay very strong and make sure we look at the next two games as a real opportunity to take something away from this tour.’.