Stumps: England 207 for 6
England 286 and 207 for 6 need 228 more runs to beat Australia 371 and 349
A small win for England: they have taken the third Test into a fifth day, thereby avoiding a new record for the quickest series defeat in Ashes history. They have actually been reasonably competitive for much of today, taking six quick wickets this morning and holding Australia up during Zak Crawley's stands of 78 and 68 with Joe Root and Harry Brook respectively.
But Australia's attack is simply too good: Pat Cummins was devastating with the new ball, taking three wickets across his first two spells - including the huge scalp of Root for the 13th time in Tests - and Nathan Lyon ran through the middle order with three wickets of his own. Australia are four wickets away from going 3-0 up and winning a fourth consecutive home Ashes series. Barring a miracle, England's hopes will finally fade to nothing at some point on Sunday.
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Crawley's non-conversion
Worst 50 to 100 conversion rate for opening batters in Tests:
17.39% - Mark Richardson (4x100, 19x50)
17.39% - Zak Crawley (4x100, 19x50)
18.18% - Sherwin Campbell (4x100, 18x50).
17.39% - Mark Richardson (4x100, 19x50)
17.39% - Zak Crawley (4x100, 19x50)
18.18% - Sherwin Campbell (4x100, 18x50).
via ESPNcricinfo's Sampath Bandarupalli
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Lyon gets Crawley!
The series could be over tonight! Zak Crawley has batted beautifully for his 85 but takes a big lunge forwards trying to drive Nathan Lyon through mid-off, drags his back foot out of his crease, and is stranded as Alex Carey whips the bails off. Lyon has three, Australia have six, and England need their last four wickets to score 241.
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Lyon gets Stokes yet again
This is an absolute beauty from Nathan Lyon: drifting in with the around-the-wicket angle, then spinning away to beat Ben Stokes' outside edge and crash into the top of the stumps. Stokes is playing down the wrong line, defending with an open face, and can only stand there and nod in appreciation. Superb bowling from the veteran offspinner, and Australia are halfway there.
10 Nathan Lyon has dismissed Ben Stokes 10 times in Tests. Only two bowlers have dismissed Stokes more often: R Ashwin (13) and Mitchell Starc (12).
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Langer: The best I've seen Crawley bat
Justin Langer is full of praise for Zak Crawley on Channel 7's coverage:
"Crawley has done a really good job. This is the best I've ever seen Crawley bat. There have been no big shots, he has just batted. And it is a flat wicket with a fast outfield.
"The very least they have to do is drag Australia back tomorrow... They have got to get through to stumps tonight, reassess. The Australians would have got some more overs under their belt. The wicket will get flatter. So, the captain, and for Zak Crawley, you must keep going, son. You must keep batting, get through to stumps with your captain and then see where you go from tomorrow."
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Bowled reversing!
Oh my word how's the turn from Nathan Lyon #Ashes pic.twitter.com/De2R8775Cc
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 20, 2025
Harry Brook has no idea what's just happened. He brings out the reverse-sweep, trying to drag Nathan Lyon away through the off side, the ball turns sharply and crashes into the top of leg stump. Lyon punches the air in celebration as Brook stands there, genuinely confused as to how he's been dismissed.
It's the end of a partnership worth 68, and leaves Brook with a run of in-between scores for the tour: 52, 0, 31, 15, 45 and 30. You don't win series like that.
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Drinks: England 153 for 3
Zak Crawley and Harry Brook have batted nicely together, adding 44 for the fourth wicket in 15 overs. Brook has had a couple of sketchy moments, missing a scoop and nearly offering a stumping chance, but Crawley has played like the senior partner. England need them to still be there at stumps if they have any hope of chasing these runs down.
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'Superhuman' Cummins
It is hard to think of a bowler in the history of Test cricket who could do what Pat Cummins has done in this match. Plenty have gone fine-and-a-half months without playing a Test and bowled well. But very few if any would not have played a single white-ball or domestic game in between, writes Alex Malcolm.
Prior to day two of this Test, on December 18, Cummins last bowled a ball in a competitive game of cricket on July 13. He went 16 weeks in that time without bowling a ball, even in the nets, to let his lumbar bone stress injury heal.
Cricket Australia’s medical staff normally advise 3-4 months of bowling before returning to play and even then it would be a staggered return on restrictions through domestic cricket. Cummins has return to Test cricket on no restrictions in less than two, having bowled his first ball in the nets seven weeks ago.
His only question was skill readiness. He had bowled poorly by his standards off multiple-month layoffs and limited preparation heading into the 2023 WTC final and last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
But he has looked incredible in Adelaide. He has hardly bowled a bad ball. On a flat wicket in 40-degree heat on day two, he prized out Zak Crawley and Joe Root with superb deliveries. He later bagged Jamie Smith with a barrage of short balls.
Having bowled 17 overs across day two and three, there have been no signs of fatigue on day four. He has looked like getting a wicket with nearly every one of his 60 balls thus far. Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope stood no chance, each nicking him to second slip.
But he saved his best for Root after tea. A soft ball and a featherbed pitch were no hurdles. Hammering away in the channel for five consecutive dots, reaching 86mph/138kph, Root was lured to try and score off the last ball of the over. He poked and nicked, beaten by Cummins’ extra zip off the pancake pitch. It was the ‘unlucky’ 13th time Root has fallen to Cummins. There was no luck involved. Cummins is simply superhuman.
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50 for Crawley
Zak Crawley leans into an off drive as Nathan Lyon returns to the attack and comes back for the third, taking him to his second half-century of the series. Crawley bagged a pair in Perth but has been the only member of England's top three to contribute any scores of note, adding a second-innings 50 here to his 76 and 44 at the Gabba.
"A class innings," Mark Waugh says on Fox Cricket. "He's put a high price on his wicket and I like his method, how he's got forward and played the line." It has not been a characteristic Crawley innings, but he has played at a similar tempo before with success - notably, in England's fourth-innings run chase at Headingley against India this summer.
This is Crawley's 100th innings as a Test opener and he has only scored four hundreds in the role. This is a real opportunity for him to add a fifth.
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Rinse and repeat
Joe Root batted superbly in the first innings at the Gabba for his unbeaten hundred but hasn't reached 50 in his other five innings. He is visibly furious with himself after edging Pat Cummins behind, a near-identical dismissal to the first innings: it's another defensive prod, and Cummins gets just enough shape away off the seam to take the outside edge, which Carey pouches.
That's a huge moment for Australia, breaking the partnership and closing in on 3-0.
13 Times that Joe Root has been dismissed by Pat Cummins, the most that any bowler has dismissed him. Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Starc have dismissed him 11 times each.
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Root's close call
What a start to the evening session. Pat Cummins gets funky and throws the ball straight to Travis Head after tea, a decision which goes down just as well as you would expect with the crowd here at Adelaide Oval. Head gets one to spin sharply from outside off stump, with Joe Root padding up, and he only just survives Australia's review with the ball projected to clip - rather than hit - the top of off stump.
Very, very close to Root being picked up LBW on DRS!#Ashes pic.twitter.com/OfiyGubIvF
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 20, 2025
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Tea: England 106 for 2
One of England's better sessions of the series: 101 runs added for the loss of Ollie Pope, who was brilliantly caught by Marnus Labuschagne at second slip off Pat Cummins's bowling. The break has come at a good time for Australia, who looked a little short of ideas as the session wore on, and you can be sure that Cummins and Mitchell Starc will be brought back at some point after a freshen-up at the tea interval.
Zak Crawley and Joe Root have steadied the ship for England: Crawley was very watchful against the new ball but has started to score more freely, while Root has been busy throughout and has been fluent against Lyon, taking 18 runs off the 14 balls he has faced from him so far.
The target is still a long, long way away, but England will be happy with their day's work as things stand.
75 Zak Crawley's unbroken third-wicket partnership with Joe Root is England's fourth-highest of the series so far. They also combined for the fifth-highest partnership, adding 70 in the first innings at the Gabba.
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Record crowd
Cricket Australia: Today's attendance at drinks in the afternoon session was 41,289. The current total match attendance is 200,132. This is a record for any Test at Adelaide Oval. The previous record was 199,147 in 2017-18 over five days.
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Lyon into the attack
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Nathan Lyon is into the attack for the first time this innings. It feels like a big day for Lyon: he bowled very tightly in the first innings, conceding 2.5 runs per over, and now has the opportunity to bowl England out and secure the urn in a series where he has been a minor character in a walk-on role so far.
Joe Root hits him for back-to-back boundaries in his first over, first on the sweep and then on the reverse, to put him under some early pressure.
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Pope's Ashes nightmare
3 104 England players have batted in the top seven at least 15 times in Ashes cricket. Only three of them have failed to reach 50 at least once: Godfrey Evans, Mike Smith and Ollie Pope.
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Two warnings for Starc
One to keep an eye on: Mitchell Starc has been warned twice by Nitin Menon, the standing umpire at the Cathedral End, for following-through in the danger area. If he does it once more, he'll be removed from the attack for the rest of this innings.
Here are the relevant clauses in the ICC's Playing Conditions:
41.13.1 It is unfair for a bowler to enter the protected area in his follow-through without reasonable cause, whether or not the ball is delivered.
41.13.4 If, in that innings, the same bowler contravenes this clause a third time, when the ball is dead, the umpire shall: direct the captain of the fielding side to suspend the bowler immediately from bowling... The bowler taken off shall not be allowed to bowl again in that innings.
The umpires may then report the matter to the ICC Match Referee who shall take such action as is considered appropriate against the bowler concerned.
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Cummins-Crawley high jinks
In case you missed it, just before lunch:
How good are the mind games between Pat Cummins and Zak Crawley? #Ashes pic.twitter.com/APMPhGmb6Q
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 20, 2025
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Labuschagne takes a screamer!
MARNUS ARE YOU KIDDING! WOWWWWW!#Ashes | #PlayoftheDay | @nrmainsurance pic.twitter.com/vikW0O7B6L
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 20, 2025
A stunning catch by Marnus Labuschagne at second slip accounts for Ollie Pope, and that could be him done for the series and beyond. Pat Cummins has been all over Pope, beating him time and again on the outside edge, and strikes him on the helmet - via the elbow - midway through his fifth over. One ball later, he finds a perfect line and length and gets the ball to nip away. It takes Pope's outside edge, flies low into the cordon, and Labuschagne dives at full stretch, low to his left, to cling onto the chance.
150 Test wickets as captain for Pat Cummins, second only to Imran Khan.
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Crawley creeping
Zak Crawley has a strike rate above 65 in Test cricket but has scored one run in his first 27 balls and is trying desperately to see off the new ball. Pat Cummins has hardly missed his spot so far, and Crawley is happy to block and leave for the time being. Ollie Pope has played-and-missed repeatedly, and it feels like a matter of time for him.
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Pope playing for his career
Ollie Pope is playing for his Test future this afternoon, as well as trying to keep England in the series. He is yet to score a half-century across 15 innings in the Ashes and has looked like a man with a scrambled mind since the first Test in Perth, exemplified by his first-innings dismissal here.
History suggests that he is unlikely to save himself: Pope has a dire record in the fourth innings, averaging less than 17 and only once reaching 30. His returns nosedive dramatically both within series and matches, suggesting that he struggles to cope with the intensity of Test cricket, and it will take serious mental strength for him to score runs today given the pressure that he is under.
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Cummins strikes!
Ben Duckett's dire tour continues. He whips his first ball away for four through midwicket off Pat Cummins, then hangs his bat in the channel outside off stump and nicks a length ball straight to Marnus Labuschagne at second slip. Duckett has been one of England's most consistent players over the last three years but his method hasn't worked at all in Australia.
There is some horseplay between Zak Crawley and Cummins before lunch, with Cummins tieing his shoelace to mock Crawley's timewasting, only for Crawley to pull away with Cummins halfway through his run-up. Crawley plays-and-misses at the final ball of the morning, and England head into the afternoon session needing 430 more to win with nine wickets in hand.
Lunch: England 5 for 1.
Lunch: England 5 for 1.
97 Ben Duckett's total runs in the series across six innings, with a top score of 29.
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Australia's missed opportunity
It’s unlikely to matter in the end, but Australia losing 6 for 38 to be bowled out for under 349 having been 311 for 4 and leading by 395 with five-and-a-half sessions left in the game cannot be swept under the carpet, Alex Malcolm writes.
Australia’s batting is dysfunctional at the moment, as it has been at home for three straight summers. Cracks have been papered over in this series by extraordinary individual performances from Travis Head, Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc.
England have not really put them under any pressure since the opening innings of the series. Yet since then there has been a slew of starts wasted. There has been very little continuity of roles. Head started the series locked in at No. 5 and is now the opener. Usman Khawaja had been Australia’s incumbent opener for four years but has batted at No. 4 in his only three innings of the series. Cameron Green started the series at No. 6 and has since moved to No. 5, having been Australia’s No. 3 for four Tests in the winter. Marnus Labuschagne looked back to his best at No. 3 in Brisbane but regressed in Adelaide to the style of batting that saw him dropped mid-year.
Carey now averages 110.75 in five innings batting at No. 5-6, all this year, compared to 32.19 in his career at No. 7. Josh Inglis does not look entirely at ease as a specialist batter at No. 7.
Australia are likely to be 3-0 up going to Melbourne and could possibly make more changes to their batting line-up than England, given Steven Smith is set to return.
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England need 435
Jofra Archer has Scott Boland caught-and-bowled, diving forwards to snaffle a leading edge, and Australia have lost their last six wickets for 38 runs. England have taken 20 wickets for the first time in the series.
England need 435 to keep the Ashes alive, in just over five sessions: the scoring rate won't be a problem, but they've only reached 300 once on this tour and need a world-record run chase. Their first task is to survive the 10 minutes before lunch, with two under-pressure openers...
Does that target sound familiar to anyone?
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Two in two
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Lyon wears his first ball on his front shin and marches off, despite taking a review (he might as well with three available). It's projected to smash into middle-and-leg, which leaves Carse on a hat-trick. Scott Boland leaves the hat-trick ball alone, and Mitchell Starc crunches the fifth ball of the over away through mid-off to take the lead up to 434.
That's 50 Test wickets for Carse, who is England's leading wicket-taker in the series but has conceded more than five runs per over.
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Carse gets Cummins
Brydon Carse gets one full in the channel outside off stump, which Pat Cummins chases after and edges firmly to Brook at slip. Australia's lead is 429 but there's little to gain from a declaration with five sessions left in the game so Nathan Lyon strides out at No. 10.
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Australia lose 3 for 24
A missed opportunity for Josh Inglis: he nicks off for 10 in the final over before the second new ball is due, giving Josh Tongue a fourth wicket of the innings.
Australia have lost three wickets in six overs - but the lead has grown to the extent that England will now need to break West Indies' long-standing record for the highest successful fourth-innings run chase to keep the series alive.
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Stokes strikes
No twin tons for Alex Carey. Stokes digs one in short, Carey wears it on the glove, and Brook takes the catch at leg slip. Two quick wickets for England to remove the set batters before drinks, but it feels very futile.
Stokes is into the seventh over of his spell this morning after he was unable to bowl yesterday, and the second new ball is due in 1.4 overs.
8 Ben Stokes has become the eighth player to score 1000+ runs and take at least 50 wickets in the Ashes.
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Inglis survives
Josh Inglis is given out lbw to Ben Stokes but reviews immediately, and replays show that he got a thick inside edge on the ball before it hit his pad. This is a big innings for Inglis: he is playing in an unusual role as a specialist batter at No. 7, and after scores of 23 and 32 in the series so far, could use a score to lock himself in for the Boxing Day Test.
Inglis started his Test career with 102 against Sri Lanka in Galle at the start of this year but has not reached 40 in his five innings since. He could easily be squeezed out if Steven Smith is fit to play at the MCG as expected: Smith would return at No. 4, and Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green and Alex Carey would all shift down a spot.
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Head holes out
Head picks out deep backward square leg, trying to swing one into the stands for six. He's left a double-hundred out there, but 170 is his second-highest Test score and has set this game up for Australia perfectly. Josh Tongue, who has run in gamely, has a third wicket, and England can breathe a small sigh of relief.
How different might this game look if Harry Brook had held his catches off Khawaja (on 5 in his first-innings 82) and Head (on 99 in his second-innings 170)?
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Fill your boots
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Travis Head may never have a better opportunity to score a Test double-hundred. He whips Brydon Carse away through midwicket, then carves him away through the off side for back-to-back boundaries. It has been help-yourself stuff from England so far this morning, and Head is filling his plate up at the buffet. 300 up for Australia, and the lead is approaching 400.
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Head reaches 150
England finally hit the stumps with a throw, as Will Jacks tries to catch Travis Head short at the non-striker's end, but it deflects away for an overthrow which gets Head back on strike. He then back-cuts Brydon Carse away for four, beating deep backward point, and acknowledges the crowd's applause for his 150. Easy runs for him.
6 Times Head has reached 150 in Tests, with a top score of 175 against West Indies at Adelaide Oval in 2022.
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Record territory
378 The highest target that England have ever successfully chased down in the fourth innings, against India at Edgbaston in 2022. The highest they have chased against Australia is 359; Australia's lead at Adelaide Oval is 356 overnight.
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Stokes loosens up
Good morning from Adelaide Oval, where Ben Stokes has been warming up by bowling on a practice strip before the start of play. Stokes didn't bowl an over yesterday after his five-hour batting innings - split across two days - and looked exhausted, briefly leaving the field during the final session.
This was how Jeetan Patel, England's assistant coach, saw it last night:
"From what we heard he was [fit]. He didn't bowl, but that's probably a different discussion with him. I don't actually know. My sense is he's just pretty knackered. We all know he doesn't do anything at 80 percent. Maybe he thought he was a risk, so he didn't bowl."
It looks like he will be available this morning, but it feels like it'll be too little, too late for England.
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