With a 3-0 lead and two to play Australia already have the Ashes in the bag as they prepare to take on England in the fourth test match which gets under way in Melbourne on Boxing Day
Perth was the venue for the first Ashes test match and it took just 2 days to get a result with Australia coming home by 8 wickets. Australia then made it 2-0 with an 8 wicket victory in the second test, a day / night match in Brisbane. The series was then sealed with an 82 run win for Australia in the third test in Adelaide.
Australia won the toss and opted to bat first in the third test at Adelaide Oval and they posted 371. At 94/4 they were in some trouble but Khawaja made 82, Alex Carey went on to top score with 106 and Starc contributed with 54. Archer took 5 wickets for England.
In reply England were 8 wickets down for 168 but 83 from Ben Stokes and 51 from archer saw the innings close on 286 with Cummins and Boland taking 3 wickets a piece.
Australia’s second innings was dominated by opener Travis Head who made 170, Carey was in the runs again with 72 and the innings closed on 349 with Josh Tongue taking 4 wickets.
Chasing well over 400 England’s chase ended on 352 with Crawley (85), Smith (60) and Jacks (47) the top scorers whilst Cummins and Lyon both took 3 wickets. Alex Carey was named Man of the Match and Australia are now eyeing a clean sweep with this test and Sydney the two remaining matches.
This was how the teams lined up in Adelaide.
Australia: Travis Head, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
Note, Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the remainder of the series, Jhye Richardson and off-spinner Todd Murphy have been added to the squad. Lyon looked to be struggling on Day 5 so watch the media for news of his well being.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue
The Venue, Melbourne Cricket Ground
Over the course of the last decade Australia have played 10 test matches at the MCG, winning 7 drawing 1 and losing 2.
In the most recent test match here against India in December 2024 Australia (474 and 234) beat India (369 and 155) by 184 runs
In the 2021 Ashes test Australia beat England by an innings and 14 runs (England 185 and 68) Australia 267)
Series Betting Update
Prices quoted from Sportingbet are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change.
A 5-0 series win for Australia is now priced at 8/10 and it's 2/1 for Australia to win 4-1.
4th Test Betting
Prices quoted from Sportingbet are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Australia are 5/10 to win the third test with a draw at 8.5/1 and England can be backed at 22/10
The Verdict
England have fallen well short but ought to still be fired up enough to salvage some pride from a series they had built towards for so long.
For a betting interest I’m going to chance my arm with Khawaja as top Australian 1st innings bat at what looks a fair price to me. In the same market for England I’ll go with Crawley, again based on price rather than confidence as both picks have the potential to fail miserably or land at decent odds.
Bets: Top Australia 1st Innings Bat, Khawaja at 5.25/1 with Sportingbet
Top England 1st Innings Bat, Crawley at 5.25/1 with Sportingbet