At the end of the third Test on Saturday, England held onto the last hope that they could chase a record 435 to salvage the series, but an unyielding Australia were four wickets away from retaining the Ashes.
With Will Jacks on 11 and Jamie Smith on 2, England battled to 207-6 and move on to a fifth day in Adelaide, although they were still 228 runs short of their goal.
Big guns were lost. In the last session, Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins caused the most damage, followed by Zak Crawley (85), Joe Root (39), Harry Brook (30), and Ben Stokes (5).
Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey, who scored a century in the first innings, had another successful day when he stumped Crawley off Lyon with his deft hands.
“I just thought Nathan was bowling really well and to continuing putting lots of energy on the ball,” said Carey. “He toiled away all day and finally got some reward. There’s enough in the pitch. We saw that, and finally he picked up a couple of late wickets.”
Carey claimed he was still not considering winning the Ashes and predicted that England would battle to the very end on Sunday.
“We’ll reflect on today and come up with plans for tomorrow. We know these guys are quality players right to the end, and we want to keep working hard and probably not look too far ahead.”
After being beaten by eight wickets at Perth and Brisbane, England needs to win to salvage the five-match series.
They have a difficult challenge ahead of them, as attendance over the first four days surged to over 200,000, setting a record for the Adelaide Oval, which has hosted Tests since 1884.
The West Indies’ 418 run chase against Australia at St. Johns in 2003 was the largest successful run chase in Test history, but no side has ever chased down more than 316 at the venue. With Travis Head scoring 170 and Carey scoring 72, England ended Australia’s second innings for 349 with six wickets before lunch.
They had ten minutes to bat before the break, but Ben Duckett was dismissed in the second over after he edged Cummins to Marnus Labuschagne at second slip. With Jacob Bethell in the wings, out-of-form number three Ollie Pope was thought to be on his last chance.
He failed to deliver again, falling for 17 after Labuschagne made another spectacular one-handed grab off Cummins at full stretch in the slips. Crawley was cautious as he and Root put up a 78-run partnership. Root needed a big score to save his team, but Cummins undid him once more.
The Australian captain dismissed him for the 13th time in Tests — more than any other bowler — as a furious Root berated himself after poking at a full delivery and edging through to Carey.
Before his partner mistimed a reverse sweep and was bowled by a classic Lyon off-break, Crawley reached a well-earned fifty and started a rebuild with an unusually quiet Brook. As the pitch deteriorated, Lyon bowled Stokes with another of his signature deliveries, then lured Crawley down the wicket to be stumped by Carey, ending England’s Ashes season.
“Very disappointing, it’s an uphill battle from here, we’re staring down the barrel,” said Crawley. “They are a very, very good side. It was always going to be tough against them. Obviously we have been short of our best, but credit to them.”
Head was on 142 and Carey was on 52 when Australia began at 271-4. They feasted early on some subpar bowling. Assistant coach Jeetan Patel claimed Stokes was “knackered” following a stoic 83 with the bat on Friday, but Stokes refused to give up.
On Saturday, the England captain started the assault, but Head got right to work, reaching his 150 with a boundary through backward point and receiving a standing ovation from his home crowd. Head pulled a short ball from Josh Tongue in an attempt to reach his first double-century, and Crawley in the deep did well to get underneath it in the bright sun.
Josh Inglis (10) followed, caught behind by Smith off Tongue, after Carey was removed at slip by Brook off Stokes. Tongue took 4-70 and Bryson Carse returned with 3-80 as the tail swiftly collapsed.
