England fall short in record chase as Australia secure Ashes victory in Adelaide

England’s Ashes dreams were snuffed out as they succumbed to an 82-run defeat in Adelaide, where an injury to Nathan Lyon gave them hope of pulling off a miracle.

Australia followed wins at Perth and Brisbane with an unexpectedly nervy fifth-day success in the third Test, ringing up an unassailable 3-0 lead after just 11 days of cricket.

For England, a spirited attempt to chase down a gargantuan target of 435 – 17 higher than the world record and 57 more than any England side have managed – was too little, too late to salvage a torrid tour.

They eventually folded for 352 all out and face two dead rubbers in the coliseums of Melbourne and Sydney.

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AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND THIRD TEST FINAL SCORECARD

Great escape

Incredibly, they had a chance to pull of a truly great escape.

Lyon, whose triple dismissal of Harry Brook, Ben Stokes and Zak Crawley looked to settled things on the fourth evening, pulled his hamstring in the field during the morning session, robbing the hosts of their biggest threat on a wearing pitch.

Jamie Smith and Will Jacks set about taking advantage, with a stand of 91 suddenly making the huge target seem achievable.

But, after hitting four successive boundaries off the new ball, Smith suffered a rush of blood to the head as he chased a fifth, skying Pat Cummins into the leg-side to let an increasingly edgy Australia off the hook.

Fate

His departure for 60 could easily have ended the fightback, with England now seven down and still 150 short, but Jacks dug in again alongside Brydon Carse to keep the show on the road.

The pair clubbed together for another half-century stand as Lyon’s absence began to bite, but the English habit for blinking under pressure reared its head, Jacks (47) giving away his 137-ball rearguard with a loose waft at Starc.

Another brilliant slip catch followed from Marnus Labuschagne, another area Australia have proved themselves vastly superior, and their fate was sealed.

Painful

Jofra Archer picked out deep point and last man Josh Tongue nicked off, securing a hat-trick of painful defeats for a side who arrived Down Under with real ambition.

Instead, they have levelled the unwanted record of Nasser Hussain’s class of 2002-03 by surrendering the urn in the shortest number of days for a five-day, five-match series.

England began with almost no hope, sitting 207 for six and needing 228 runs to do the unthinkable and it was a surprise that they even entertained the idea.

Blow

Australia started off with Lyon, but he drew a blank in his initial burst.

Jacks got into a tangle once on the reverse sweep but survived as the ball clipped his elbow, and two deliveries later, Smith took a chance, swiping the off-spinner over the long mid-wicket boundary for six.

At the other end, Australia opted for the gentle seam of all-rounder Cameron Green.

With the more feared quicks waiting for the new ball to arrive, Green struggled to land a blow.

Given three catchers deep on the leg-side, he tried to tempt Smith with a bouncer and saw the ball clattered all the way into the crowd.

That blow took the required runs below 200, still in the realms of fantasy but enough to draw a cheer from the endlessly optimistic Barmy Army.

Discomfort

There were more roars of approval when rain arrived, with a light shower forcing the players off for more than half-an-hour.

When play resumed, Australia lost Lyon almost immediately, pulling up immediately after racing to stop a boundary and leaving the field in clear discomfort.

The new ball was just around the corner, but England cashed in 17 off the last two overs with the old one, dished up by part-timers Travis Head and Labuschagne.

Smith continued to go through the gears, driving Cummins with authority for back-to-back fours, then taking Starc for two more with a flick off the pads and glorious cover drive.

Genuine steel

With the momentum shifting, he got sucked in too far, swiping at a ball that was not there for the blow.

Cummins settled under the catch and Australia’s anxiety eased.

England, once again, had failed to seize a key moment. Jacks deserves considerable credit for the way he battled to take the game into the final afternoon and looks a cricketer with genuine steel.

But he could not deny himself a little flash at Starc with a first Test 50 in sight. It was a rare misjudgement and one that cost him dear as Labuschagne gobbled yet another screamer in the Australian cordon.

England had no real chance once he was gone, with Archer and Tongue giving way to Australia’s seamers while Carse held in for 39no.

England had finally located some defiance but must now dig even deeper to avoid the ignominy of a 5-0 whitewash.

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