THE Ashes came to a fitting end as England produced one last batting collapse to slump to a 146-run defeat to leave Australia celebrating a 4-0 series win.
Joe Root’s side had worked themselves into a position where a consolation victory appeared possible as the second session on day three approached its conclusion, reaching 68-0 in their chase of 271 but proceeded to lose all 10 wickets for 56 and were bowled out for 124.
Cameron Green (3-21) started the rout as he removed the England top three either side of tea before Scott Boland and Pat Cummins helped themselves to three wickets apiece in the evening session; the Australia captain taking the winning wicket to end a pitiful batting display.
Earlier in the day, Mark Wood had claimed his first Ashes five-wicket haul and finished with figures of 6-37 to keep England in with a chance but once Rory Burns and Zak Crawley’s encouraging opening stand was broken, the away side crumbled as their dismal series concluded with their worst collapse.
England began the day needing quick wickets, ideally seven of them, as Australia resumed on 37-3 and in the fourth over, Wood got them started as nightwatchman Boland (8) edged behind.
The fast bowler was sticking with the short-ball tactics that troubled Australia late on day two, as well as in their first innings, and it did the trick again as Travis Head (8) was caught behind down the legside before Steve Smith (27) pulled the ball straight to Dawid Malan at fine leg in a superb, fiery spell.
Australia were rescued somewhat from 63-6 as Alex Carey and Green put on 49 for the seventh wicket, albeit the former required a fair amount of good fortune as he was bowled by Chris Woakes on 19, only for the third umpire to make the debatable decision to call a front-foot no-ball.
Stuart Broad eventually broke the stand, England reviewing successfully for lbw, after Green (23) was pinned on the back leg and he thought he had Carey in his next over, only for the Australian to review with ball-tracking showing the ball pitched fractionally outside leg.
Wood returned completing a thoroughly deserved five-for with the wicket of Mitchell Starc (1), caught at short leg and England wrapped up the innings soon after the dinner interval, Carey (49) caught behind off Broad (3-51) one short of his half-century to give Sam Billings, on debut, a fifth catch of the innings.
The last time an England bowler had better figures in a Test in Australia than Mark Wood’s 6-47 was back in December 2006 when Matthew Hoggard took 7-109 in Australia’s first innings at Adelaide.
Fittingly, it was Wood who took the final wicket, with the score on 155, making a mess of Cummins’ (13) stumps as the Australia skipper swung and missed in an attempt to add to his side’s lead in quick time. (Sky Sports)
AUSTRALIA 1st innings 303
England 1st innings
Rory Burns Run Out (Marnus Labuschagne) 0
Zak Crawley c Travis Head b Pat Cummins 18
Dawid Malan c Alex Carey b Pat Cummins 25
Joe Root lbw Pat Cummins 34
Ben Stokes c Nathan Lyon b Mitchell Starc 4
Ollie Pope c Alex Carey b Scott Boland 14
Sam Billings c Scott Boland b Cameron Green 29
Chris Woakes c Alex Carey b Mitchell Starc 36
Mark Wood b Pat Cummins 16
Stuart Broad b Mitchell Starc 0
Extras 4b 8lb 0nb 0pen 0w 12
Total (47.4 overs) 188 all out
Fall of Wickets : 1-2 Burns, 2-29 Crawley, 3-78 Malan, 4-81 Root, 5-85 Stokes, 6-110 Pope, 7-152 Billings, 8-182 Woakes, 9-182 Broad, 10-188 Wood
Did Not Bat : Robinson
Bowling: Mitchell Starc 10 – 1 – 53 – 3, Pat Cummins 13.4 – 2 – 45 – 4,
Scott Boland 14 – 6 – 33 – 1, Cameron Green 10 – 0 – 45 – 1.
Australia 2nd innings
David Warner c Ollie Pope b Stuart Broad 0
Usman Khawaja c Sam Billings b Mark Wood 11
Marnus Labuschagne c Sam Billings b Chris Woakes 5
Steven Smith c Dawid Malan b Mark Wood 27
Scott Boland c Sam Billings b Mark Wood 8
Travis Head c Sam Billings b Mark Wood 8
Cameron Green lbw Stuart Broad 23
Alex Carey c Sam Billings b Stuart Broad 49
Mitchell Starc c Ollie Pope b Mark Wood 1
Pat Cummins b Mark Wood 13
Nathan Lyon Not Out 4
Extras 1b 3lb 1nb 0pen 1w 6
Total (56.3 overs) 155 all out
Fall of Wickets : 1-0 Warner, 2-5 Labuschagne, 3-33 Khawaja, 4-47 Boland, 5-59 Head, 6-63 Smith, 7-112 Green, 8-121 Starc, 9-151 Carey, 10-155 Cummins
Bowling : Stuart Broad 18 – 2 – 51 – 3, Chris Woakes 11 – 3 – 40 – 1 (1nb),
Ollie Robinson 11 – 4 – 23 – 0, Mark Wood 16.3 – 2 – 37 – 6 (1w)
ENGLAND 2nd innings
Rory Burns b Cameron Green 26
Zak Crawley c Alex Carey b Cameron Green 36
Dawid Malan b Cameron Green 10
Joe Root b Scott Boland 11
Ben Stokes c Nathan Lyon b Mitchell Starc 5
Ollie Pope b Pat Cummins 5
Sam Billings c Pat Cummins b Scott Boland 1
Chris Woakes c Alex Carey b Scott Boland 5
Mark Wood b Pat Cummins 11
Ollie Robinson b Pat Cummins 0
Stuart Broad Not Out 1
Extras 0b 13lb 0nb 0pen 0w 13
Total (38.5 overs) 124 all out
Fall of Wickets : 1-68 Burns, 2-82 Malan, 3-83 Crawley, 4-92 Stokes, 5-101 Root, 6-107 Billings, 7-107 Pope, 8-115 Woakes, 9-123 Wood, 10-124 Robinson
Bowling : Mitchell Starc 8 – 0 – 30 – 1, Pat Cummins 12.5 – 3 – 42 – 3,
Scott Boland 12 – 5 – 18 – 3, Cameron Green 6 – 1 – 21 – 3,
