The Ashes 3rd Test Review
Australia have retained the Ashes in Adelaide, and England can file this one under “the brave loss that still counts as a loss”.
The third Test was the closest thing we have seen to a proper contest all series. It lasted five days. It swung. England even flirted with the sort of fourth-innings heist they keep promising. And then the same thing happened again. Australia won the clutch moments, England didn’t, and the urn stayed put.
This match started with England finally landing a punch through Jofra Archer. Five wickets, serious pace, proper menace. Australia were 94 for 4 and the whole thing had that rare feeling: Australia actually looked vulnerable. Then Alex Carey walked in and turned the tone from “opportunity” into “here we go again”. He made an Ashes hundred that came with its own subplot, surviving a DRS and Snicko farce when a spike showed up at the wrong time and England burned a review for nothing. Carey himself admitted he thought there was a noise. The operator error got acknowledged. England even got their review back. None of that brought back the runs. Carey made 106, dragged Australia to 371, and Adelaide became Carey’s game.
England’s reply had fight, but also the familiar pattern. They kept giving Australia wickets at the exact moments they were starting to build. They did, however, find the one thing they have been missing all series: stubborn time in the middle. Ben Stokes, under heat and staring at another collapse headline, went full siege mode. He and Archer put on a huge ninth-wicket stand that stopped Australia walking away with it by lunch on day three. It was raw, emotional, and as close as England have come to making their attitude match the conditions.
Then Travis Head happened. Again. Head’s second-innings 170 was not just big, it was psychological warfare. England dropped him on 99, he froze on the number for eight balls, then decided subtlety was for other people and launched Joe Root back over his head to get there. The kiss-the-pitch celebration was peak Adelaide theatre. England’s bowlers did plenty right in patches, but you cannot drop Head in this form and expect mercy. He doesn’t do mercy.
Australia’s second innings of 349 set England 435. In Australian terms, that target was a statement. In England terms, it was an invitation to do something historic. Cricinfo called it a world-record-sized chase in the context of Australia, and it felt that way, not because it was impossible, but because it demanded discipline for two straight days. England don’t do two straight days.
To England’s credit, they didn’t roll over. Zak Crawley batted with real backbone, and for a while the chase had shape. Jamie Smith, Will Jacks and Brydon Carse kept it alive on the final day when it really should have been dead. But the turning point was late on day four when Nathan Lyon walked in and ripped the heart out of it. He bowled Stokes during a burst that basically ended the dream, and Carey added the dagger with a lightning stumping to remove Crawley just as the shadows stretched and the pressure peaked. That is the difference in this series. Australia take your hope and then take the wicket immediately after.
England were eventually all out for 352. Australia won by 82 runs, and that was 3–0 after just 11 days of cricket. Ashes retained. Series done. And England left holding another press-conference shaped consolation prize about “positives” and “intent”.
The inconvenient truth is Adelaide was England’s best chance so far because it was the fairest Test so far. A proper surface. A full match. Space to recover from mistakes. They still couldn’t get it over the line. Which means the story of the series is not pitches, or vibes, or noise about arrogance. It’s execution under pressure.
Australia have it. England keep talking about it.
