Lyon, Cummins shut the door on England’s slim Ashes hopes

Lyon celebrates Brook's wicket (Credit: Getty Images)

England 286 and 207 for 6 (Crawley 85, Cummins 3-24, Lyon 3-64) need 228 runs to beat Australia 371 and 349 (Head 170, Carey 72, Tongue 4-70).
Australian relentlessness in Adelaide has all but ensured possession of the Ashes for two more years. Set a world-record target of 435 to win the third Test and keep the series alive, England found some belated fibre in their batting, led chiefly by Zak Crawley’s 85 — only for the enduring excellence of Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon to emphatically shut the door on them.
Cummins took the first three wickets to fall, including Joe Root for the 13th time in Tests, before Lyon plucked out three more during the final session to break England’s resolve. Crawley played admirably but could not convert what would have been a second hundred against Australia, lured from his ground by Lyon with the shadows beginning to lengthen for Alex Carey to complete a lightning stumping.
Although Jamie Smith, who played two scoring shots in 30 balls, and Will Jacks negotiated a pathway to the close, England were still more than 200 runs short of their target with four wickets standing as Australia closed in on a decisive 3-0 lead. Barring miracles from the lower order on Sunday, England were set to concede the urn inside just 11 days of cricket.
Australia’s dominant position in this match had been constructed around a bristling 170 from Travis Head, but England were clinical with the ball during the morning session on day four, with six wickets falling in just over 90 minutes to at least prevent a mammoth target growing into something truly gargantuan.
One of the central tenets of England’s Bazball era has been their love of a chase — the clear lines of a fourth-innings requirement often bringing the best out of a mercurial batting unit. At 2-0 down and needing a win to stay alive in the series, clarity was in abundance. But even as Adelaide Oval remained on the friendlier side for batting, the scale of the task became clear as Cummins struck twice in his opening spell either side of lunch.
Ben Duckett’s torrid tour continued as he poked recklessly at his second ball to be taken at slip. Ollie Pope was then given a thorough working-over by Cummins and Mitchell Starc, though it took a brilliant catch from Marnus Labuschagne — diving one-handed at second slip — to send him on his way, possibly for the last time in Test whites.
England rebuilt through the afternoon with a measured 78-run stand between Crawley and Root. But the immaculate Cummins undid Root once again in his first over after tea. As in the first innings, Cummins’ probing around the off-stump line proved too much, Root fiddling behind in visible anguish as he thumped the back of his bat and stalked from the field.
In truth, there was little Bazballing from England’s top order as they opted for a more conventional approach — perhaps scarred by misadventures in Perth and Brisbane. Crawley scored just one run from his first 28 balls, by which time England were two wickets down, but was rewarded for his patience with his highest return of the series. His innings was replete with controlled drives and sound judgement. Like Root, he was proactive with the sweep and reverse-sweep against Lyon, whose opening six-over spell cost 35 runs and prompted Cummins to turn to Head.
Crawley and Harry Brook added another half-century stand, though Brook lived dangerously at times despite clear efforts to rein in his attacking instincts. He was tied down by Scott Boland bowling with the keeper up and escaped when a miscued ramp came off the toe with his stumps exposed. As the ball rolled away to square leg, he was also forced to abort an attempted run.
Brook did capitalise on Boland dropping short to cuff a boundary, but his only other four came from a reverse-sweep off Lyon — a shot that proved his undoing as he lost his shape while the ball dipped and spun to clip leg stump. Brook lingered, seemingly bewildered, but the message for England was unmistakable.
Lyon then found his groove, removing Ben Stokes for the 10th time in Tests with a ripping off-break that drifted in before spinning past a forward defensive to hit the top of off. When Crawley overbalanced while pushing at one that went on with the arm, Carey’s glovework did the rest. England slipped to 194 for 6, and even the possibility of rain on the final day offered little comfort, with their winless run in Australia set to stretch to 18 Tests.
Australia had resumed on Saturday in control, underpinned by Head’s second hundred of the series and an unbroken partnership with fellow South Australian Carey. Any thoughts of batting deep into the afternoon to extinguish England’s final embers were shelved swiftly as the innings unravelled following Head’s dismissal.
England opened with Stokes — the captain having not bowled on day three — but Australia’s fifth-wicket pair initially proceeded untroubled, Head carving and clipping boundaries to pass 150. They added 40 in under eight overs, with Head closing in on his career-best 175 at this venue three years earlier, before an attempted slog off Josh Tongue found Crawley at deep square leg after he briefly lost sight of the ball.
That ended a stand of 162. Carey pushed Australia’s lead beyond 400 while closing in on becoming just the third wicketkeeper to score twin hundreds in a Test, but he was stopped by Stokes as a well-directed short ball brushed the glove and carried to leg slip.
Josh Inglis failed to capitalise on his reprieve, edging Tongue behind while attempting to open the face. The new ball then cleaned up the tail: Brydon Carse removed Cummins and Lyon with successive deliveries before Archer completed the job — a collapse of 6 for 38 that briefly lifted English spirits, for all of eight balls. ( ESPNcricinfo)