Australia retains the Ashes with 2 tests to spare after a tense victory over England in Adelaide

Australia retained the Ashes with two matches to spare after paceman Mitchell Starc took three of the final four wickets to blunt England’s defiant comeback in a tense Day 5 finish to the third Test at the Adelaide Oval.

Australia began the final day needing four wickets, with England resuming on 207 for six and still 228 runs short of a daunting victory target of 435 — a total that would have required a world-record fourth-innings chase.

Starc claimed the only wicket of the morning session, dismissing Jamie Smith for 60, as England added 102 runs. By lunch, England’s resistance had tightened the equation: Australia needed three wickets to reclaim the urn, while England required 126 runs to keep the five-match series alive. No team has ever chased more than West Indies’ 418 to win a Test.

Tense Day 5 Finish

With England’s lower order applying sustained pressure and Australia missing veteran spinner Nathan Lyon, who limped off with a right hamstring injury, the leading bowler of the series delivered for the hosts. Starc removed Will Jacks (47), brilliantly caught by a diving Marnus Labuschagne, and Jofra Archer (3), before Scott Boland finished the job.

England were bowled out for 352, handing Australia an 82-run victory. Starc, who had earlier been player of the match in Australia’s eight-wicket wins in Perth and Brisbane, was again decisive.

Australia captain Pat Cummins, who missed the first two Tests with a back problem before returning for the series-clinching win, said the result reflected the team’s persistence. “It feels pretty awesome. We got it done,” Cummins said. “It’s a good old-fashioned grind a lot of the time, and I loved the toil from all the guys today.”

Player of the Match

Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey was named player of the match after scoring a home-ground century in the first innings, a half-century in the second in a 162-run stand with Travis Head (170), and completing seven dismissals across the Test.

England Out of Contention

England captain Ben Stokes said the series loss was painful but praised his side’s resilience. “This is going to hurt quite a bit,” he said. “That dream we came here with is now over, but we’ve got two more Tests to go and that’s where the focus has to be.”

Domestic media noted it has been 5,462 days since England last won a Test in Australia, dating back to January 2011.

The fourth Test begins on Boxing Day in Melbourne, with the fifth to follow in Sydney in the New Year.