MATCH REPORT
Follow UsDay 3 of Hobart witnessed a fitting end to the 2021/22 Ashes as England suffered a scarcely-believable collapse to lose the fifth Test by 146-runs. After bowling Australia out for 155, the visitors were at one point 68/0, chasing 271. But a stunning collapse saw them lose the final 10 wickets for 56 runs to surrender the Test in under three days.
Mark Wood breathes fire to rattle Australia
Australia began Day 3 on 37/3, but crucially they had Steve Smith still batting. The 152-run lead meant that it was they who were on the front-foot at the beginning of the day. But in a remarkable first session, a fired-up Mark Wood single-handedly crippled the hosts to bring his side right into the contest.
Wood got rid of the nightwatchman Scott Boland in the fourth over of the day, and then four overs later struck a huge blow as he sent back to the hut the most in-form batter, Travis Head. Wood banged one into the wicket that cramped Head for room and got the batter’s glove.
The back-to-back wickets put Australia in a spot of bother, but the Kangaroos found themselves in a deep hole when Smith perished just 10 balls after Head. And once again it was Wood who inflicted the damage. The right-armer tempted the Aussie vice-captain with a short one, and Smith fell for the bait as a miscued hook ended up carrying to the fine-leg fielder. At 63/6, England were smelling blood.
The hemorrhage, then, was stopped by a solid 59-run stand between Cameron Green and Alex Carey. But the hosts had a huge slice of luck in that partnership, with Carey getting bowled off Chris Woakes on a no-ball.
Both batters weathered the storm and passed 20, but Green fell to Broad whilst on 23, playing all around a straight one. He was replaced by Starc, who couldn’t contribute much either. He just added 1 more run to the score before walking back to the dressing room. Starc too was ruffled by Wood, who collected a deserved five-fer.
But despite being 8 wickets down with 20 minutes left in the session, Australia went to the dinner break without any further damage. A small passage of hell was survived by skipper Pat Cummins, who was lucky to be at the right end of a close LBW shout. He did his best to support Carey, who made the most of his luck to end the session on 40*.
Openers put Australia on the back-foot after clinical bowling display
England, post the dinner break, needed to wrap up the Australian innings quickly, and the bowlers did just that. 14 runs extra was all they conceded as Australia set the visitors a target of 271.
With the conditions still firmly in favour of the bowlers, the Aussies expected to rattle England, but the hosts were in for a shock 90 minutes as the Three Lions, for the first time in the series, dominated the new ball.
Both Burns and Crawley started smoothly, and the duo kept finding the boundary ropes at regular intervals. The scoreboard kept ticking and in the blink of an eye, England had posted their highest opening partnership of the series. The pair brought up the fifty-run stand and at one point, the Aussies had no answers despite trying everything.
But just when it looked like England would head into the final session with all 10 wickets in hand, Cameron Green struck to send Burns back to the pavilion.
At 68/1, though, England had successfully rattled Australia in the second session.
England suffer stunning collapse to surrender the Test under 3 days
At 68/1, despite losing Rory Burns prior to the break, England fancied their chances. After all, they just needed 203 more runs. But what unfolded in the final session was two hours of horror. A session that, really, was a microcosm of this entire series as the visitors stunningly lost 9 wickets to surrender the final Test under three days.
Of all people, it was Cameron Green who did the damage. The youngster bowled the best spell of his career as ripped through the English top-order.
Green was the one who took the wicket of Burns, and after bowling a hostile spell to Dawid Malan - in which he hit the southpaw’s head - the right-armer got the better of the English number three, who played on. But Green didn’t stop there as he also got the wicket of the well-set Zak Crawley through a picture-perfect outswinger. 68/0 in no time became 83/3.
Ben Stokes then perished five overs later after miscuing a pull shot of Mitchell Starc, and his dismissal turned out to be the wicket that triggered the implosion. Post Stokes, the Three Lions lost 7 wickets for the addition of just 32 runs as they rather embarrassingly waved the white flag to surrender in under three days.
Fittingly, it was skipper Pat Cummins who finished proceedings off for Australia, clean-bowling Ollie Robinson through a soaring yorker.
