Lyon and Cummins take Australia to the brink of 3-0 Ashes win despite Zak Crawley’s resolute innings of 85.
Lyon and Cummins shut the door on England’s slim Ashes hopes.
The Ashes will almost certainly be held for two more years thanks to Australia’s unwavering perseverance in Adelaide. England found some late strength in their batting, spearheaded mostly by Zak Crawley’s 85, but Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon’s persistent brilliance decisively closed the door on them. England set a world-record target of 435 to win the third Test and keep the series alive.
Before Lyon claimed three more wickets in the last session to undermine England’s resolve, Cummins claimed the first three wickets, including Joe Root for the thirteenth time in Test cricket.
Despite playing magnificently, Crawley was unable to convert what would have been a second century against Australia after Lyon enticed him from his ground as the shadows grew longer, allowing Alex Carey to finish a quicksilver stumping.
With four wickets remaining, England were still more than 200 runs from their objective as Australia closed in on a commanding 3-0 lead, despite Jamie Smith, who played two scoring strokes in 30 balls, and Will Jacks negotiating a pathway to the finish. England were expected to give up the urn in just 11 days of cricket, barring heroics from the lower order on Sunday.
Travis Head’s bristling 170 had been the cornerstone of Australia’s dominant position in this match, but England were clinical with the ball during the morning session on day four, taking six wickets in just over 90 minutes of play to at least stop a massive target from moving closer to the enormous.
The love of a chase is one of the main characteristics of England’s Bazball era; the precise lines of a fourth-innings demand bring out the best in a volatile batting team.
However, the magnitude of the challenge facing England became evident as Cummins scored twice in his opening spell either side of lunch, even if Adelaide Oval continued to be on the friendly side for batting.
Ben Duckett continued his terrible tour by carelessly poking his second ball, which was taken at slip. After that, Ollie Pope was thoroughly worked over by Cummins and Mitchell Starc, but Marnus Labuschagne’s outstanding one-handed grab at second slip sent him on his way for what might be his final appearance in Test whites.
Crawley and Root’s methodical 78-run partnership helped England rebuild throughout the afternoon. But in his first over following tea, the flawless Cummins defeated Root once more. Similar to the first innings, Root was unable to tolerate Cummins’ probing around the line of off stump and fiddled behind. His agony was evident as he slammed the back of his bat and strode off the pitch.
England’s top order chose a more traditional strategy, possibly damaged by their mishaps in Perth and Brisbane, and there was very little Bazballing. England was two wickets behind after Crawley got one run from his first 28 balls, but he was rewarded for his patience with the series’ greatest return.
Despite an apparent attempt to control some of his attacking inclinations, Harry Brook lived dangerously at times, but Crawley and Brook put up another half-century stand. When Scott Boland bowled with the keeper up and tied him down, he managed to escape with a misguided ramp that came off the toe of the bat with his stumps exposed. He also had to quickly abort an attempted run as the ball rolled away to square leg.
His only other four came when he reverse-swept Lyon, and the stroke would ultimately lead to his demise as the ball sank and turned to clip leg stump, causing him to lose form awkwardly. Brook lingered, seeming perplexed at being bowled, but the message was obvious for England.