On Tuesday morning, Australia crushed England’s hope for the Ashes title after an innings and 14 runs defeat in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). This massive victory helped Australia to retain the Ashes with a 3-0 lead in the %-match Test series.
England started the morning session of Day 3 at 31/4 and with a faint of getting back into the match. However, the morning turned into a nightmare soon for England, thanks to the Australian debutant pacer Scott Boland. The game was over before the lunch as England was bowled out for 68.
The player-of-the-match Boland singlehandedly six wickets for seven runs in his debut Test match at his home ground. He finished with match figures of 7/55 and was awarded The Mullagh Medal on his debut in Melbourne.
England’s 2nd innings collapse was disappointing enough as the English bowlers did a great job in keeping Australia restricted within 267. James Anderson produced a superb spell on Monday picking up 4 wickets.
“It is what it is. We have come to deal with this sort of environment for a while now. Credit to Australia, they blew us away last night, and they have outplayed us in this Test match, in fact, the series so far. We have a lot of hard work to do now and come back strong in the last two games,” Anderson said.
At the post-match ceremony, English captain Joe Root said, “We have to stay strong and look at the next two games to take something from the tour.”
Meanwhile, Australian skipper Pat Cummings made it clear that they are looking for finishing the series with a clean sweep. “Any Ashes series is when you try to make a mark on your test career, so a chance to start cementing our identity,” Cummins said.
Notably, the play on Tuesday started after all of the players of both teams tested negative for the Covid19. The teams will now play the 4th Test in Sydney from January 5.
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