Australia retains Ashes after crushing humiliated England

A relentless Australia spearheaded by debutant Scott Boland skittled England for an embarrassing 68 on Tuesday to win the third Test by an innings and 14 runs and retain the Ashes with two matches still to play.

The tourists resumed in Melbourne on 31 for four, still 51 runs behind, after a disastrous final hour on Monday against some outstanding fast bowling that left their Ashes dreams in tatters.

Their survival rested on skipper Joe Root, but when he fell for 28, it was just a matter of time before the rest followed.

Boland, called up as injury cover, was invincible on his home ground at the MCG, taking 6-7 off four overs, equaling the record for the fastest five-wicket haul in 19 balls.

Mitchell Starc ended with 3-29 as England's misery was complete.

"It is pretty insane. Just an awesome few weeks, everything clicked and everything worked out," said Australian skipper Pat Cummins.

"Thrilled for Scott Boland. We have been relentless."

Ben Stokes resumed on two but his poor tour continued when he has clean-bowled by Starc for 11.Jonny Bairstow made five and when Root was out it was all over, with the tailenders quickly following.

"It is what it is. We have come to dealing with this sort of an environment for a while now," said a dejected Root. "Credit to Australia, they blew us away. We have a lot of hard work to do now and come back hard in the next two matches."

Virus threat

Whether there would be play at all was in doubt after four members of the England party－two support staff and two family members－tested positive for coronavirus on Monday.

But all players from both teams underwent PCR tests after stumps and returned negative results on Tuesday morning with the first ball bowled on schedule.

England headed to Melbourne knowing they must win to keep the five-Test series alive after heavy defeats in Brisbane and Adelaide, with Australia only needing a draw to retain the urn as holders.

And they fleetingly hauled themselves into contention on the back of a vintage bowling effort from veteran seamer James Anderson, which restricted Australia to 267 in their first innings in reply to the tourists'185.

But it was only an 82-run lead and any dreams England had of staying in the Test, or even winning it, fell apart in the face of an intense fast bowling blitz on Monday from Starc, Cummins and Boland.

In an hour of mayhem, they removed hapless openers Zak Crawley (five) and Haseeb Hameed (seven), Dawid Malan for a golden duck and nightwatchman Jack Leach (0), leaving England staring into the abyss on 31 for four after another stunning collapse.

'Gutted'

Shell-shocked captain Root called on his players to show some pride in the badge with two Tests to spare.

Root has now lost seven of eight Tests he has captained in Australia and also failed to wrest the urn back from England's great rivals on home soil in 2019 when the series was drawn 2-2.

"I'm absolutely gutted," Root told reporters at the MCG. "We're bitterly disappointed to find ourselves in this position.

"We need to put some pride back into the badge and we need to give people back home something to celebrate and look fondly back on from this tour.

"It's bitterly disappointing to be 3-0 down but there are two Tests to go."

Questions may be asked of Root's captaincy after another Ashes failure but the 30-year-old Yorkshireman has proved a virtual lone hand with the bat.

Scoring 50 and 28 in Melbourne, he finishes the calendar year with 1,708 runs, the third highest after Mohammad Yousuf (1,788) and Viv Richards (1,710).

He could only wish for half as much support from some of his teammates, with Ben Stokes (11) the only other England player to reach double figures in that dismal second innings.

Root was reluctant to discuss the long-term future of his captaincy, saying he was focused only on the next two matches in Sydney and Hobart.

"My energy has to be all about trying to win the next game. I can't be selfish and start thinking about myself," he said.

"But I think more than anything, we've got to keep looking to do everything we can to get the players in the best possible place to go and win Test matches.

"And that's a big part of captaincy, you've got to rally the players－you've got to try and instill that belief in every single one of your team and your squad.

"And more than ever now."

Agencies