Australia retain Ashes after crushing humiliated England

Australia retained the Ashes with thumping innings and 14-run win in the third test in Melbourne on Tuesday, with debutant pacer Scott Boland laying waste to England’s hapless batsmen with a devastating six-wicket haul.

Boland, only the second Indigenous Australian to play a men’s test match, came off the Melbourne Cricket Ground turf with a prize stump and astonishing innings figures of 6-7 as England capitulated for 68 before lunch on day three, their 13th lowest total in tests.

Australia sealed the series 3-0 in front of a festive ‘Boxing Day’ test crowd of 42,000, leaving England playing for pride in the final two tests in Sydney and Brisbane.

With Australia having won by 275 runs in Adelaide and nine wickets in the Brisbane opener, home captain Pat Cummins was left pinching himself as Boland and Mitchell Starc (3-29) wrapped up the series within 90 minutes on a glorious morning in Melbourne.

England captain Joe Root was left devastated. He has now lost seven of eight tests as captain in Australia after failing to wrest back the urn on home soil in 2019.

ARR