England on brink of Ashes defeat as Nathan Lyon stars for Australia

England avoided the ignominy of losing the Ashes in 10 days of cricket but Australia put one hand on the urn as they closed in on an impregnable 3-0 lead in Adelaide.

After folding in two days at Perth and four in Brisbane, Ben Stokes’ embattled side came dangerously close to setting a fresh low – surrendering the series a day sooner than the 11 Nasser Hussain’s class of 2002-03 managed a generation ago.

They avoided that fate mainly thanks to a show of heart from Zak Crawley, who shelved his reputation as a top-order dasher with a gutsy knock of 85 from 151 balls, but a heavy fifth-day defeat in South Australia remained firmly on the agenda.

Set a world-record chase of 435 to keep the contest alive going into the marquee Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, England clawed their way to 177 for three before Nathan Lyon ripped the heart out of their comeback in 20 ruthless deliveries.

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AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND THIRD TEST DAY FOUR SCORECARD

Limping

The spinner clean bowled Harry Brook and Stokes before having Crawley stumped, to leave them limping on 207 for six at the close.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins had earlier done his share of the damage, seeing off Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Joe Root with an expert display of precision pace bowling.

Jamie Smith and Will Jacks were together at the close, knowing a 228-run miracle would be needed to engineer the greatest escape.

While Crawley and Brook were building together, the final embers of English hope began to spark up again.

The path to victory was narrow and perilous, but it was just about visible.

Devastating spell

Then Lyon made his play. The champion spinner’s first 10 overs had been milked for 49 runs, with England deploying a steady flow of sweeps and reverse sweeps to smother the turn and prevent him building pressure.

Australia had even turned to the part-timer Travis Head for variation in a bid to disrupt progress.

But when England punched 13 off a ragged sixth over, Lyon was summoned back to the stage and embarked on a devastating spell.

His second ball back hit the jackpot, Brook stooping into the trusted reverse but failing to connect as it snaked past the bat and flicked the top of leg.

He stood his ground for a moment, wrongly wondering if there had been a stumping attempt, but the ecstatic celebrations that exploded around clarified his fate.

Shallow defence

Out came Stokes, with 258 runs still needed. It was a bridge – or several bridges – too far for a man who has done the unthinkable before, and he was only able to chalk off five from that tally before pressing forward in a shallow defence and exposing his off stump.

Lyon, with the perfect amount of turn away from the left-hander, did not miss.

If Stokes’ dismissal felt conclusive, the end of Crawley’s occupation provided the full stop.

Within sight of what would have been a highly impressive hundred, even in a lost cause, he made it three quick wickets as he was stumped by Alex Carey stepping down the track.

Discard pile

England’s task looked nigh-on impossible when home skipper Cummins made two early breakthroughs, Duckett poking his second ball to slip to continue a dire tour and Pope undone by a sensational one-handed catch in the cordon from Marnus Labuschagne.

Pope scratched out 17, his exact average against Australia, and looks a certainty for the discard pile.

Root made 39 and in a stand of 78 with Crawley, doing better than most in neutralising Lyon.

But he fell for the 13th time to his nemesis Cummins, feeling for contact outside off stump when a leave would have kept him in the hunt.

Damage

Earlier, their pace attack had relocated its mojo, reducing Australia from 311 for six to 349 all out.

There were two wickets for Josh Tongue, who finished with four for 70, and two in two balls for Brydon Carse.

Stokes picked up one for 26 in a seven-over spell, having been too fatigued to bowl at all on day three, and Jofra Archer finished things off with his sixth of the match.

It was a brief reminder of how England had envisioned things unfolding when they put this attack together, but it was hard to escape the feeling that too much damage had already been done.

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