An 82-run victory in the third test helped Australia to take an unparalleled lead of 3-0 in the ongoing five-match test series of the Ashes 2025-26. With two more games to spare in the series, the Aussies under Pat Cummins’ captaincy retained the Ashes with a dominant win at the Adelaide Oval.
After setting a mammoth 435-run target against England, the hosts required just four wickets on Day 05 of the third test (December 21, Sunday).
Notably, Australia required just 11 days to retain the Ashes with a 3-0 win, the joint second fastest since the 1921 series was triumphed in 8 days. Thanks to the 3-fers from Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Nathan Lyon that crushed the visitors’ hopes of keeping the five-match series alive.
Australia’s 85-Run Lead After First Innings
England seemed to be in complete control after wrapping up Australia’s first innings to 371 in 91.2 overs. In response, Ben Stokes and his men were able to accumulate just 286 in 87.2 overs.
The 3-wicket hauls from Pat Cummins (3/69 in 17 overs) and Scott Boland (3/45 in 15.2 overs) guided the Aussies to take an 85-run lead by taming England’s Bazball approach to bat.
Alex Carey (106 runs) and Usman Khawaja (82 runs) were the top run scorers for Australia. Contrarily, England’s batting line-up failed apart from the performances of Stokes (83 runs), Jofra Archer (51 runs), and Harry Brook (45 runs).
A Massive Comeback for Australia in the Second Innings
Following the dismissals of Jake Weatherald and Marnus Labuschagne, England had a promising start to the second innings with the ball, leaving Australia struggling at 2/53 in 15.3 overs.
However, Australian opener Travis Head opted for a cautious approach and built a steadfast 86-run partnership with Usman Khawaja (40 runs).
Head went on to accelerate his innings by playing a destructive 170-run knock, and his partnership of 162 runs with Alex Carey (70 runs) for the fifth wicket further bolstered the team’s total.
Despite the contributions from Josh Tongue (4/70 in 18 overs) and Brydon Carse (3/80 in 20 overs), England’s bowling attack turned out to be fragile against Australia’s dynamic batting performance.
England’s Late Fightback in High-Pressure Run Chase
On Day 05, England had an uphill task to chase a gigantic target of 435, as no other side ever managed to accomplish above 418 in test cricket.
Even after a shaky start, the English batting line-up gave a tough fight, but ended up compiling 352 all out in 102.5 overs.
Zak Crawley initially anchored the chase, having scored 85 runs off 151 balls (including 8 fours). After the dismissal of the England opener, Jamie Smith (60 runs) and Will Jacks (47 runs) showed some grit to patch up the middle order’s failure.
Notably, this was Will Jack’s career-best score in test cricket, which helped his team reduce the chase to below 100.
Also, Brydon Carse showed some resilience for his side as a tailender by scoring an unbeaten 39 runs off 64 balls (including 4 fours and 1 six).
Ultimately, the lethal spells of the Australian bowlers, namely Mitchell Starc (3/62 in 17 overs), Pat Cummins (3/48 in 17 overs), and Nathan Lyon (3/77 in 25 overs), bowled out England’s innings below reaching the 400-run mark.
Australia’s Catching Efficiency in The Ashes 2025-26
One of the main reasons for Australia’s success in the ongoing Ashes 2025-26 was their impressive catching efficiency of 85.45%, having taken 47 out of 55 catches.
Contrarily, England, having taken 33 out of 43 catches, outlines their ineffective catching efficiency of 76.7%.
Former England Captain Slammed Bazball Approach
Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, criticized England’s under-prepared side that succumbed badly to a defeat within 11 days:
“Certainly! England’s approach (referring to Bazball) was severely exposed throughout the Ashes tour. There would be no need to delve deeper into the history after facing an embarrassing defeat like this within 11 days, which is the worst I recall on Australian soil.
England had a confident attitude for three years, and the entire cricketing world was keen to silence them. This has been a heartbreaking tour for them, and the Aussies are laughing at the fragile line-up of the team.
For the past four years, England had a message struck down their throat that this style (Bazball) would help them win in Australia. But the fact is that Australia has been grinding down their opposition, and their bowling attack was truly disciplined,” Vaughan said.
Final Opinion
Since 2013, England has never won a single test match on Australian soil. With two more games to go in the Ashes 2025-26, the visitors would be keen to conclude the series on a positive note by ending their winless drought in Australia.