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Ashes: Adelaide to 3-0
Australia sealed the Ashes in a tense third Test at tranquil Adelaide, with Marnus Labuschagne wheeling away in delight after pouching the catch that “sealed the Ashes for Australia,” as England’s dropped catches and scattergun seam bowling left them unable to overturn a largely one-sided run of 11 days.
“pouching the catch that sealed the Ashes for Australia”
Ricky Ponting said, “England are talking themselves up more,” and the Guardian’s account tied the series swing to Australia’s fielding and bowling, including Labuschagne’s “two hall-of-fame catches in the match.”
The Guardian also described how England were left with 83 runs to make up after “435 would have represented a world-record chase,” before Labuschagne took the edge that Scott Boland induced from Josh Tongue at “2.11pm.”
Australia went into the Christmas period “3-0 up,” with the Guardian noting Josh Hazlewood was sitting out the entire series, Usman Khawaja missed Brisbane after going in the back in Perth, and Steve Smith sat out Adelaide with the recurrence of dizzy spells.
Even as Nathan Lyon twanged a hamstring and looked likely to miss the last two Tests, the Guardian said Australia had “an iron-clad six pack” of replacements, while England’s bench included “a clearly untrusted spinner” and “a batter without a first-class century.”
Melbourne: England’s 4th win
In Melbourne, England won a chaotic fourth Ashes Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, restoring pride with a “gutsy four-wicket victory” that was “all over inside two days.”
Al Jazeera said Australia were dismissed for 132 soon after lunch in front of a “bumper 92,045 crowd,” leaving England chasing 175 to win with Harry Brook unbeaten on 18 and Jamie Smith on three.
England’s chase was driven by a whirlwind start, with Zak Crawley slamming Michael Neser for a six and a four in successive balls, before Ben Stokes’ side finished the job for the loss of six wickets to huge roars from their travelling “Barmy Army.”
Al Jazeera quoted Ben Stokes saying, “A good feeling, a tough tour up to now,” and it added that England would head to Sydney for the fifth and final Test brimming with confidence.
Australia captain Steve Smith later reflected on the MCG pitch, saying, “When you see 36 wickets fall in two days, that probably tells you it did a bit more than intended,” after England’s win snapped a long drought on Australian soil.
Aftermath: series ends 4-1
The Ashes series then concluded with Australia winning 4-1, completing the fifth Test on Day 5 in Sydney with a five-wicket victory, as Mitchell Starc took 31 wickets and Travis Head posted three centuries and tallied 629 runs.
“Mitchell Starc took 31 wickets”
AP reported that Australia bowled England out for 342 on the fifth morning of the series finale and, chasing 160 for victory, finished 161-5 with Alex Carey hitting the winnings runs and Cameron Green unbeaten on 22.
AP quoted Steve Smith, Australia’s stand-in captain for four of the five Tests in the absence of Pat Cummins, saying, “Yeah, it has been magnificent,” and it framed the result as a dominance that retained the Ashes with wins in the first three Tests.
England captain Ben Stokes said, “Tough one to take knowing that we can play a lot better than that,” after the drought-breaking win in Melbourne, while AP also detailed a contentious DRS moment involving umpire Ahsan Raza and TV umpire Kumar Dharmasena.
With the series wrapped, AP noted the total crowd across five days of the fifth Test was 211,032, a record for the Sydney Cricket Ground, and it said Starc finished with 31 wickets at an average of 19.9 to earn player of the series honors.
