Player of the Match
Player of the Match
2494dThe Report by Brydon Coverdale

Australia close in on 4-0 after Marsh hundreds

There will be no 5-0 clean sweep, but Australia have a good chance of mopping up a 4-0 result at the SCG after dominating the fourth day against England

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

UT Khawaja
171(381) 18x4 - 1x6
Control %86%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 29 runs
  • 2x4 - 0x6
16 24 16 15 41 5 23 31
SE Marsh
SE Marsh
156(291) 18x4 - 0x6
Control %86%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 39 runs
  • 2x4 - 0x6
12 10 17 15 27 20 13 42

Best performances - Bowlers

PJ Cummins
PJ Cummins
O17
M4
R39
W4
Eco2.29
RHB
OFFLEG
1W1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
PJ Cummins
PJ Cummins
O24.3
M5
R80
W4
Eco3.26
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Match Details

Toss

England , elected to bat first

Player Of The Match

Player Of The Series

Series result

Australia won the 5-match series 4-0

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

10.30 start, Lunch 12.30-13.10, Tea 15.10-15.30, Close 17.30

Match days

4,5,6,7,8 January 2018 (5-day match)

Test debut

TV Umpires

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: @andymcg_cricket

Australia win by an innings and 123 runs and take the Ashes 4-0. Another very impressive performance from them here. They've bowled as a unit, with Cummins and Lyon outstanding, and batted powerfully to put England's 346 into context. Handshakes between teams in the middle, not sure if Root has made it to the middle. Australia have been too good throughout the series, in what has been another one-sided Ashes.

Shravan: "Apparently the Aussies were waiting for Gnasher to come in before finishing it off!" I will stay with you for the post-match

sri: "@Gnasher Is this the Shortest commentary stint (single session) in cricinfo history? Must be equal among the shortest if not the shortest" I'll need to check statsguru!

Time for the presentations, on a rather interesting stage! An Aussie hand holding up four fingers and an England hand holding none. Does that class as banter?

Man of the match is Pat Cummins. "I couldn't have asked for much more. To get through the five, win the series. It's been a lot of fun, we are all really close and have played a lot of cricket together. Nathan as held up an end which means the rest of us can attack."

Joe Root not well enough to come out, so James Anderson steps up. "He's asleep at the minute, it's taken the toll on him, he's trying to recover. We've been outplayed at key moments, congratulations to Steve they've been the better team. They have a fantastic bowling attack and all the batsmen have come to the party. As a bowling group we haven't created pressure enough of the time. We have a lot of support who travel to watch us and we are very grateful to them."

Man of the series and Compton-Miller medalist is Steven Smith. "The cricket we've played has been outstanding. All the bowlers have taken over 20 wickets so we haven't relied on one person. Scoring big runs has been key for us. The batters got through tricky periods. England had their foot in the door in all the Tests but we've been able to win key moments. It's been a really exciting series and have played good cricket. It's been nice to have these Tests without any injuries, a lot of work went into it. Can be tough to take 20 wickets and the guys were outstanding. Can't thank them enough for that, proud of everyone. I just love being in the middle, doing a job for my team. I work very hard, my mind is in as good as space as it's ever been. I'm really proud of being able to lead from the front."

We'll have plenty of the ground over the next few hours but that's that for another Ashes series. Well played, Australia. Led superbly by Steven Smith. England have a lot to ponder in their Test game. They have two matches in New Zealand at the end of March then a home season against Pakistan and India. The squad for New Zealand will be named in two days. Australia's next Test challenge is the mouthwatering prospect of South Africa in their backyard. That should be a ripper. Before all that, though, there is a one-day series which begins on Sunday followed by T20s. We'll be back to bring you all the action from those matches but, for now, from Miller, Gnasher, Alan and everyone else who has been a part of the coverage, it's goodbye and thanks for joining us!

88.1
W
Hazlewood to Anderson, OUT, been given caught behind! Short of a length, angled across, feathered through to Paine. Anderson wants to review, but England have none left. Not sure he actually nicked that. And Joe Root won't come out, so that's the end of the match

JM Anderson c †Paine b Hazlewood 2 (35m 23b 0x4 0x6) SR: 8.69

Thanks Alan...for a final time?

END OF OVER:
88 | 9 Runs | ENG: 180/8

  • Tom Curran23 (40b)
  • James Anderson2 (22b)
  • Nathan Lyon34.5-12-54-3
  • Josh Hazlewood17-6-36-0

Well, England have somehow made it to drinks. Only another session and a half and they can walk away with a pride-saving draw(!)... Rofl, here's Gnasher to finish things off. Cheerio!

87.6
0
Lyon to Curran, no run, floated up and blocked getting on to the front foot outside off
87.5
0
Lyon to Curran, no run, pushed through outside off, beats the bat and nutmegs Paine - and then it hits the helmet, giving England five penalty runs!
87.4
0
Lyon to Curran, no run, flighted, spinning in, goes back to defend
87.3
4
Lyon to Curran, FOUR, oh, hello... dances down and skelps a drive past cover, he's batting nicely again and picks up four
87.2
0
Lyon to Curran, no run, Curran gets on to the font foot and blocks

Smith all the way

687

Runs scored by Steve Smith in the 2017-18 Ashes- Sixth highest ever for Australia. Sir Don Bradman occupies three of the the top 6 positions. Smith averaged 137.40

Drubbing

4-0

Australia's Ashes Victory Margin - This is the 12th instance of England not winning a Test in an Ashes series

Spin failure

112.5

Bowling average for England's spinners in this series, their worst in any series in which they've bowled 200+ overs

A debut to forget

193

Runs conceded by Crane, the highest for any England bowler on debut, and the fifth highest for any bowler. The record is 222, by Randiv v Ind

Middle-order domination

3

Instances of Australia's Nos. 3-6 all getting 75+. The previous two instances were in 1946 and 1937, during Bradman's captaincy

Batsmen Dominate

1993

Only other instance of Australia adding over 100 runs each for the 3rd,4th and 5th wicket respectively. It was also against England at Leeds in 1993.

Successful pair

6

Century stands between Smith and Khawaja since April 2014. They have 12 stands of fifty or more from 18 innings. The pair have added 1330 runs at 73.88.

Another Record for Smith

111

Innings taken for Steven Smith to reach 6000 Test runs- Joint-second quickest along with Sir Garry Sobers behind Sir Don Bradman who got there in 68 innings.

Fails again

1

No. of 50s converted into 100s by Root in his last ten 50+ scores. In this series, he has failed to score a century after crossing 50 four times.

Contributions from all

2013

Last instance of England's top-5 all scoring 20+ runs in the first inns of a Test, at MCG in Ashes 2013-14. In this Test, all 5 have crossed 20 so far.

Cook goes on

150

No. of consecutive Tests played by Cook, including this match. Only Allan Border (153) has played more in a row.

Can England finish off well?

2

No. of defeats for Australia at SCG in last 20 years, before this match. Both have come against England - 2002-03 and 2010-11. In 26 out of last 28 Tests at SCG, teams have opted to bat first, so as England now.