Mitchell Starc has bowled Australia to an Ashes series win after the hosts withstood an unlikely England fightback and Nathan Lyon injury to beat England by 82 runs in Adelaide.
The home team were jubilant after the dramatic victory, but will now almost certainly go into the Boxing Day and Sydney Tests without Lyon, who hobbled off after hurting his hamstring in the field and was later forced to use crutches.
To make matters worse, Pat Cummins sounded anything but confident about his chances of playing at the MCG in comments made after the match.
Chasing a record 435 for victory, England were all out for 352 in the middle session on day five after threatening to pull off the greatest run chase in Test history.
Starc took three of England’s last four wickets to finish with 3-62, after being the hosts’ best bowler in the first two Tests.
But Australia’s 3-0 series lead only came after Lyon limped from the field on Sunday morning, injuring his right hamstring diving for a ball at fine leg.
Travis Head celebrates the wicket of Josh Tongue, which gave Australia the win in Adelaide – and victory in the Ashes series
Pat Cummins (pictured bottom) was immense for the Aussies in his return from injury – but could be a huge omission for the Boxing Day Test
Nathan Lyon is highly likely to miss the rest of the Ashes series after picking up what appears to be a serious hamstring injury on day five in Adelaide, leaving him on crutches
With short turnarounds ahead of the remaining Tests in Melbourne and Sydney, Lyon’s availability for the rest of this Ashes is now in serious doubt.
The 38-year-old had helped set up Australia’s success on Saturday, ripping the heart out of England with three key wickets late on the fourth evening.
For a few hours on Sunday, England threatened to do the impossible, with Lyon off the field and Jamie Smith hitting four boundaries in a row off the second new ball.
But just as the required runs whittled down to 150, Smith inexplicably swung across the line at Starc and skied the ball to mid wicket on 60.
Then with 98 required it was Starc who delivered again, getting rid of Will Jacks (48) via a magical one-handed catch from Marnus Labuschagne at slip.
The left-armer also had Jofra Archer caught at deep backward point, before Scott Boland took Josh Tongue’s edge to end the match and kickstart the party.
Australia’s unassailable 3-0 lead comes after they outplayed England in both Perth and Brisbane, claiming eight-wicket victories in each of the first two Tests.
In all it took just 786.3 overs to wrap up the urn, the quickest it has ever been decided in Australia.
Pictured: The moment the Aussies began their wild celebrations after the 82-run win in the third Test
Lyon is pictured leaving the field with a trainer straight after picking up his injury. He struggled to straighten his right leg after grabbing at his hamstring
The success means Australia’s ownership of the Ashes will enter a 10th year, after winning it back from England in 2017-18.
The other miserable factor of this summer for England will be the way in which they have surrendered yet again in Australia.
It is now 5462 days since England’s previous Test win in the country, with that coming way back in January 2011 when Michael Clarke captained the hosts for the first time.
Incredibly, Australia’s success has come without Steve Smith and Pat Cummins featuring in the same Test, while injured paceman Josh Hazlewood is sitting out the entire series.
Cummins bowled superbly on return from his back injury this week, taking three crucial top-and-middle-order wickets in each innings.
However, he did not bowl for the last two hours of play on Saturday, and was seen grabbing at his lower back while trying to cut a ball off in the field.
The skipper appeared to bowl without discomfort on Sunday, taking 3-48, but backing up on a short turnaround in Melbourne could be too much for him as he eases himself back into frontline duty after a long layoff.
Cummins refused to confirm he’d be right for Boxing Day after the Adelaide win.
‘We’ll see. We’ll see how I pull up over the next day or two and we’ll make a decision but savour this one for now,’ he said.
Cricket great turned commentator Ricky Ponting didn’t like the sound of that and said he believes Cummins will be rested.
The skipper was also asked about Lyon’s condition. The spinner was taken for scans after he struggled to straighten his right leg shortly after grabbing at the top of that hamstring.
‘I doubt he’d be right for the next two [Tests],’ Cummins said.
Travis Head and Alex Carey, who was named player of the match, also starred at home in Adelaide.
Carey’s 106 on the opening day held Australia’s innings together alongside Usman Khawaja’s 82, as Australia pushed towards 371.
That was ultimately enough for an 85-run first-innings lead, as it took until Jofra Archer at No.10 for any Englishman to offer support to Ben Stokes (83).
Head’s near-perfectly executed 170 and Carey’s second-innings 72 also ensured England needed to pull off a world-record chase to stay in the series.
Questions will no doubt now linger over who could come in for Lyon, with Corey Rocchiccioli, Matt Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy all options.
