Australia thrashed England for 146 runs at Hobart to win The Ashes series 4-0; Scott Boland, Cameron Green and Pat Cummins each took three wickets as the Tourists collapsed to 124 and had been set at 271 to win; Mark Wood earlier took 6-37 as the home team rolled for 155
Australia celebrated after another landslide victory that saw them take the series 4-0
The Ashes came to a fitting end as England produced a final batting collapse to drop to a 146-run loss to leave Australia celebrating a 4-0 series win.
Joe Root’s side had worked themselves into a position where a consolation win seemed possible as the second session of day three neared its conclusion, going 68-0 in their 271 chase, but proceeded to lose all 10 wickets. by 56 and were eliminated by 124. .
Cameron Green (3-21) started the loss as he took out England’s top three on either side of the tea before Scott Boland and Pat Cummins helped themselves to three wickets apiece in the afternoon session, the captain of Australia took the winning wicket to end a dismal batting. display.
Earlier in the day, Mark Wood had claimed his first five-wicket haul from the Ashes and finished with figures of 6-37 to keep England with a chance, but once the encouraging opening position of Rory Burns and Zak was broken Crawley, the away side collapsed as their grim series concluded with their worst ever collapse.
England started the day needing fast wickets, ideally seven of them, as Australia resumed at 37-3 and in the fourth, Wood opened them up when night watchman Boland (8) fell behind.
The fastballer stuck to the short-ball tactics that worried Australia at the end of the second day, as well as in his first innings, and it worked again when Travis Head (8) was caught from behind in the leg before Steve Smith (27 ) passed the ball directly to Dawid Malan with his thin leg in a superb, fiery spell.
Australia were rescued a bit from 63-6 when Alex Carey and Green put up 49 for the seventh wicket, although the former required a fair amount of good luck as Chris Woakes brought it down at 19, only for the third umpire to make the moot. decision to call a no-ball with the front foot.
Stuart Broad finally broke the stand, England successfully checked for lbw, after Green (23) was pinned in the back leg and thought he had Carey on his next over, only for the Aussie to check with follow up on the ball showing the ball thrown fractionally outside leg.
Wood came back completing a deserved five for the wicket of Mitchell Starc (1), caught on the short leg and England closed out the innings shortly after the dinner interval, Carey (49) caught behind Broad (3-51) one short of his half-century to give Sam Billings, in his debut, a fifth inning catch.
Fittingly, it was Wood who took the final wicket, with the score at 155, making a mess of Cummins’ stumps (13) as the Australia captain spun and missed in an attempt to increase his team’s lead in short order.
England’s first met with just over an hour to bat before tea and, despite giving up during the notoriously tricky twilight period, came out with positive intent and scored quickly against the new ball.
As with Carey earlier in the day, a bit of luck was required as the ball nibbled with Rory Burns and Zak Crawley seeing wingers finding gaps rather than outfielders, and Burns received some Australian largesse as they opted not to check. a lbw decision that would have seen the southpaw go in the third over.
As the overs passed they both became more confident in the crease, with Crawley hitting some classy bounds and Burns looking solid in defence, and were able to generate a partnership of fifty – England’s first for the first wicket in the series. , and progressed to the highest opening tier for either side in the series.
However, the visitors’ encouraging start came to an end in the final period before tea when Burns tried to put away a rising shot from Green, only for the extra bounce to help the ball find the inside edge and bounce off the stumps. .
Green was understandably buoyed by the wicket and struck twice more in quick succession after the break, another drag for Malan (10) before the closer found enough lateral movement to spot the rim when Crawley (36) attempted a direct strike.
England had gone from 68-0 to 83-3 and got worse in the 28th when Ben Stokes ran into a Starc keeper but couldn’t control him and was caught deep by Nathan Lyon.
Joe Root’s drive came to an end just after the drinks when he was bowled for 11 on a pitch that Boland lobbed along the ground, nothing the England captain could do as the ball slipped under his bat.
From there, the finish came quickly, with Billings (1) hitting Boland in the middle, Ollie Pope (5) getting dropped between the legs by Cummins and Woakes (5) getting past Boland behind.
With the tail looking to swing down, it fell to Cummins, in his first heat as skipper, to clear out Wood (11) and Ollie Robinson (0) to seal another comprehensive victory and leave England to ponder a third Australian tour. in a row without a Test victory.
Australia captain Pat Cummins: “It’s pretty crazy. As a professional cricketer, these are the series you have on your schedule in a couple of years, so to come out with so many positives and win 4-0, I’m excited. It feels like really building something. big. Now we want to share our products abroad.”
England Captain Joe Root: “It has been a frustration throughout. We have played good cricket in parts but failed to string together a full game. We have to learn from these experiences and improve, not walk away and make the same mistakes. That is the challenge in motion.” ahead.”
Root, speaking to BT Sport: “Several things have to change. In the short term, kids have to learn fast. If you want to survive at this level, you have to learn fast. What they lack is the opportunity to do it at the previous level.” We need to sit down and have a clear vision of which direction English cricket needs to take, which direction English Test cricket needs to take in order to improve and improve rapidly. That’s not going to change overnight.”
Sir Alastair Cook, speaking to BT Sport: “Everything has to be scaled down. How do we improve this England team, quickly and in the long run? Nothing else can matter. We’ve amassed all this money in The Hundred and other things, but we put it all into one thing.” – make the England test team better. The best team, the best players, all the time.”
