Australia wrap up series before lunch
Australia 267 (Harris 76, Anderson 4-33) beat England 185 (Root 50, Cummins 3-36, Lyon 3-36) and 68 (Boland 6-7, Starc 3-29) by an innings and 14 runs
Scott Boland's six-wicket haul on Test debut allowed Australia to wrap up the Ashes 3-0, by lunch on the third day at the MCG.
Australia's quicks continued their demolition job on England, with Boland adding to his two wickets from three balls during a devastating final hour for the tourists on the second day, taking six wickets in 21 balls in all to seal an innings victory.
Mitchell Starc, whose two wickets had a big hand in reducing England to 4 for 31 in a cauldron-like atmosphere on day two, added the wicket of Ben Stokes inside the first 25 minutes of the resumption, to end with 3 for 29.
But the day - as short as it was - belonged to Boland. After taking 1 for 48 in England's first innings, he was simply unplayable for an England side with its confidence beaten and its batting in disarray.
The task always looked insurmountable for England, even with Stokes and Joe Root still in on the third day, but the emphatic way in which Australia rammed home their advantage consigned the tourists to a new low.
17
22
19
8
Make that six!
As Scott Boland gets his sixth wicket of the innings, Ollie Robinson caught at third slip by Marnus Labuschagne, our man at the ground, Alex Malcolm, has this:
This is why Australia picked Scott Boland. This is what he does every Sheffield Shield game at the MCG for Victoria. He just attacks off stump relentlessly from the Southern Stand end.
The Victoria coaching staff and those that play with him talk about his awkward angle. He almost gets past perpendicular with his release, meaning the angle to right-handers is always in towards off stump.
That one to get Joe Root lured him to drive on the angle but it wasn’t quite a half-volley and it straightened late to catch the edge. Magnificent bowling from the MCG’s new cult hero.
19
7
17
5
Boland bags five-for
8
5
6
2
Boland claims prize Root wicket
6
6
7
2
Boland gets another
Test debutant Scott Boland has added to his wicket tally, claiming the scalp of Jonny Bairstow in his first over of the day.
Boland took two wickets in three balls on the second evening and, on the third morning, he had Bairstow out lbw for 5 with just his fifth ball.
Bairstow, dropped by Cameron Green at gully on the first ball of the over, reviewed the lbw decision, but it was upheld on umpire's call on impact and hitting the stumps.
2
7
5
2
Ponting has a word
Following the loss of Ben Stokes, the equation has become even more difficult for England, but Ricky Ponting told Channel Seven earlier that he'd spoken with Joe Root about their intent:
“I actually had a chat to him this morning out in the middle, Joe Root, about their cricket and the noticeable difference between the way that the Australians approached the start of their batting innings with their intent and David Warner came out and hit the ball and their running between the wickets was really sharp.
"That was one thing that Joe Root actually pointed out that he thought they hadn't done. They didn't do it well enough in the first innings, they didn't rotate the strike well enough, they got stuck at one end against quality bowling. Let's just see if that intent changes this morning.”
3
2
3
Starc strikes again
Mitchell Starc, so devastating to England in the last hour on day two, has struck again to remove Ben Stokes and edge Australia even closer to wrapping up the series on the third day.
Some 22 minutes into the morning session at the MCG, Starc rattled Stokes' middle stump with a rapid, fuller ball that sailed through the gate as the batter moved forward in defence.
Just two balls earlier, Stokes had crashed Starc through long-off for four but the bowler had the last laugh. Starc now has 3 for 25 and the wicket made it 5 for 46 for England, trailing by 36 runs at the time.
6
6
7
2
Pitch perfect?
1
3
Poll: What happens next?
4
3
5
Scene setter
By Alex Malcolm
It is a spectacular day in Melbourne. The sun is beaming down and it’s a very pleasant 25 degrees. There’s plenty of energy in Australia’s warm-up. The same can't be said of England. There are a couple of in-depth conversations happening between several individuals.
Jos Buttler is practising his catching to prepare for England bowling again. Can they make Australia chase something substantial on a pitch that has been difficult to score runs on?
A lot hinges on Joe Root and Ben Stokes. They will face another barrage from Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins first up this morning.
3
4
6
1
Players all return negative Covid Tests
All players from Australia and England have returned negative tests for Covid-19 following yesterday's scare within the touring party.
Just hours after four non-playing members of England's camp tested positive to the virus via rapid flow test, all players were sent for PCRs after play on day two in Melbourne.
They were given the good news on Tuesday morning, allowing day three to go ahead as scheduled at the MCG.
"Players from the Australian and England teams all had PCR Covid-19 tests after play yesterday and all results have come back negative," Cricket Australia said in a statement. "The families of both sets of players also had PCR tests yesterday and all returned a negative test.
"The England team's support staff and their family members who tested positive after PCR tests yesterday are in isolation."
Full story here.
7
4
3