Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Steven Smith
Batter
Bowler
There you are folks, the Ashes back with Australia. You could say England competed in all three Tests, but then they also blew it away in all three Tests, none more significantly than this one. Pity about the weather earlier, or we may have had a better crowd to witness this feat. Nevertheless, it's 3-0. Will it spiral down to 0-5 for England? History suggests it might. Keep an eye on the site for all the reports and reactions. As for us, we'll be back for Boxing Day. Until then, this is Sagar Chawla signing off on behalf of Pradeep Krishnamurthy and our scorer Sreenivas. Goodbye!
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Stats round-up courtesy Deepu Narayanan
Most runs in a Perth Test for England:
194 D MALAN, 2017 (140+54)
193 D Randall, 1982 (78+115)
183 D Gower, 1986 (136+48)
178 C Broad, 1986 (162+16)
162 J Edrich, 1970 (47+115*)
Teams losing by inngs after scoring 400+ in 1st innings of a Test:
England v Australia, Oval, 1930
Sri Lanka v England, Cardiff, 2011
England v India, Mumbai, 2016
England v India, Chennai, 2016
Pakistan v Australia, MCG, 2016
England v Australia, Perth, 2017
Most successive losses at a venue:
8 England at WACA, Perth (1991-2017)*
8 Zimbabwe at Queen's Sports Club, Bulawayo (2004-17)
7 Bangladesh at MA Aziz, Chittagong (2001-04)
7 West Indies at MCG (1931-76)
England at Perth since 1990/91:
Lost by 9 wkts, 1991
Lost by 329 runs, 1995
Lost by 7 wkts, 1998
Lost by inngs & 48 runs, 2002
Lost by 206 runs, 2006
Lost by 267 runs, 2010
Lost by 150 runs, 2013
Lost by inngs & 41 runs, 2017
The last three time England posted 400+ in their first innings in away Test, they lost by an innings margin.
400, Mumbai, 2016 (Lost by inngs & 36 runs)
477, Chennai, 2016 (Lost by inngs & 75 runs)
403, Perth, 2017 (Lost by inngs & 41 runs)
England's 403 is the highest first innings total for a team in a losing cause at the WACA.
PRE: 402 by India in 1977
14th Ashes defeat for Alastiar Cook in Australia (18 Tests) - joint most for an England player alongside Jack Hobbs (24 Tests).
Most losses in an away country:
14 A Cook in Aus (18 Tests)
14 J Hobbs in Aus (24)
14 S Tendulkar in Aus (20)
13 B Lara in Aus (19)
12 S Chanderpaul in SA (14)
12 W Rhodes in Aus (20)
12 J Anderson in Aus (16)
Scoreline in Ashes after Perth Tests since 2000:
2002/03: 3-0 Australia
2006/07: 3-0 Australia
2010/11: 1-1
2017/18: 3-0 Australia
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Post-match celebration interviews:
Mitchell Marsh: Feels like I took a parachute to the Ashes. Unbelievable to be in an Ashes-winning side. (On his maiden hundred) It was a great feeling to get the hundred in front of my home crowd and my family. The last 24 hours have been great and a little nervous to be honest. It's like a dream to win the urn back at home. Coming into the side after the first two Tests, to see the passion in the dressing room was great and it was the perfect motivation I needed to go out and perform.
This was followed by Shane Warne, who spoke to the Marsh brothers. First up is Shaun: 'Yeah, unbelievable feeling, to come today and win the Ashes was outstanding. I haven't told him as yet (about not getting past his highest score of 182), was just waiting for the game to get over. We had some clear plans today, we were nice, relaxed and calm, didn't allow ourselves to get distracted (by the pitch fiasco), the bowling was outstanding right through the Ashes, they deserve all the credit for our victory.
Mark Taylor spoke to an emotional Steve Smith after the fall of the final England wicket. Here's what the Australian captain had to say. 'Amazing, coming in today with the weather around, it was great. Captaining an Ashes winning side, it's an amazing feeling. It was a moment we were looking forward for a long time, so much preparations had gone in, the way we played was spectacular, they made 400 in the first innings, that was a good effort, then to get back into the game, the bowlers have been amazing, Nathan Lyon in particular. I am very happy with this bowling group, they always get the job done. Josh Hazlewood was outstanding today, the early wicket of Jonny Bairstow was key, it's a great feeling to win the Ashes for the first time as Australia captain, we are going to celebrate this win tonight.'
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Presentations:
Smith, Australia captain and MoM: Couldn't care less about who got the MoM. Nice to get recognition anyway. Very proud about my performance in this game. Marsh played magnificently as well. Set the game up for us. 400 was a reasonable total. So proud of the boys, to wrap it up in three Tests here in Perth and to get the urn back is quite amazing. Lyon's been magnificent too. Boys have done a terrific job to get 20 wickets regularly. We haven't won a toss and we've probably had the toughest conditions as well. Weather was horrible last night. Haven't seen weather like that in Perth. Thought it was going to be clear this afternoon. Fortunately the boys started well this morning. Josh hit his lengths really well. Amazing achievement from this group. Credit to the selectors too. Made some bold calls. Everyone's they've picked has come in and done a tremendous job. Gonna celebrate this one first. Not everyday you win the Ashes. Then we'll get to Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test which is an amazing occasion. Been an amazing couple of weeks. Boys have worked very hard. Everyone behind the scenes as well. Can't wait to go back to the boys and enjoy it.
Root, England captain: It's very difficult to take. Fair play to Australia, they've outplayed us in all three games. We have to be better. When we got here, it wasn't fit to play. Obviously it dried up as the sun and wind got to it, and by the end there, it was probably fit to play. The way Malan and Jonny played was outstanding. Those two should be proud. Our start wasn't great. Have to learn from that. The way Vince played in the second innings was proper batting. Looked like the only way they could get him out was with a delivery like that. Should sure take a lot of confidence from it. Have to make sure that we go to Melbourne, prepare well and put in a good performance.
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England were below par in the first innings, collapsing dramatically after a solid first day. Once the lead was established, they didn't have much chance at saving the game on a pitch laced with cracks. Here's the presentations kicked off with Root speaking to Mark Nicholas..
Smith looks pretty emotional as he's interviewed by Mark Taylor. We'll have that up in a while. Talking about Smith though, hasn't the Australian captain been absolutely sensational?! Gosh, that double hundred was something else. He didn't look like getting out, not until he grew tired of batting. There are talks about the big four batsmen in cricket. Huh, good luck catching up with this bloke in Tests. Mitchell Marsh gave him good company in a monstrous 301-run stand which set up the game really.
15:48 Local Time, 07:48 GMT, 13:18 IST: Look at them go. They're jumping around in a huddle, bursting with elation. It's taken just three Tests to regain the urn. Smith runs out to fetch the ball back, probably for Hazlewood who's bowled beautifully on this final day. A final day which threatened to never get started after the pitch fiasco and all the intermittent rain. But eventually, there was no stopping Australia.
Pat Cummins to Woakes, out Caught by Paine!! That's it. Australia win back the Ashes as Woakes edges the upper-cut to Paine. What a moment for this young team under Steve Smith. They're running around everywhere.. Woakes c Paine b Pat Cummins 22(48) [4s-3]
Pat Cummins to Woakes, THATS OUT!! Caught!!
Pat Cummins to Woakes, no run, short of length just outside off, dabbed to gully
Pat Cummins to Woakes, no run, stays low and almost.. almost goes through. Woakes crouches and keeps it out
Pat Cummins to Woakes, no run, short of length, stays a touch low and is blocked back
Pat Cummins to Woakes, no run, full on middle and leg, Woakes flicks it wide of mid-on. Doesn't move