The Ashes: England's belated resistance ends as Australia retain the Ashes.

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You'Re listening to the TMS podcast.

From BBC Radio 5 live.

Boland coming in and bowling to tongue. It's edged caught and Australia retain the.

Ashes.

And they're in a hugging each other and celebrating two day game. Four day game at least. This one has gone comfortably into a fifth, but it's still a handsome victory for Australia by 82 runs.

So at 2:11 on the fifth day of this third Test match, Australia have retained the Ashes. They've beaten England by 82 runs. England resisting 352 all out, actually marginally outscoring Australia in the second innings of the match. Australia making 34 9. But it was that first innings really that did so much damage to England 286 all out. So they gave up that first innings lead of 85. And Australia gradually worked their way through the batting resistance from England today. Smith making 6:60, hit four consecutive boundaries before he tried to take start down again and hit it out towards mid on. And Cummins took the catch. Jack's out for 47. Nicking to laberschain. Slip cast was 39 not out. Archer cut to Weatheralld, a deep backward point off Stark for three. And Tung, last man out, caught at slip off Boland for 1. England resisting for 102.5 overs. But it was not quite enough. Yes, indeed. Sorry. It was toughest.

Yeah, I thought it was at least three.

Yeah, it's four consecutive boundaries he hit. So he hit two in one over, then he lost the strike and then Jack's got a single back on strike, hit two more and then he went for the big shot again. So four consecutive boundaries before he holed out.

And kind of.

It's that I was a fine innings. He played really well. But it's. It's kind of that dismissal, it was replicated over the series, wasn't it, really? And that. And that's one of the reasons. That's one of them. It's not the only reason. It's one of the reasons why England come undone in this series.

Absolutely. It reminds me, I was passing with John Embry, my fellow spin twin. I don't know, we're playing against Hampshire or something, and their spinner was on, and he'd go. And I'd hit a couple of fours somehow, like that. And he's come up to me and just gone, right, okay, just block. It doesn't matter. And I was like, no, no, I want to keep going. I want to keep going. No, no. What? You can't hit every ball for four. Even if you go in and the blood's up and, you know, you've been told to go and, you know, sometimes even if it was in the slot, you sort of just. Just pat it back, recalibrate and go again. So, yeah, that's. That was disappointing. But I'm glad he got some runs, you know, that'll help him, I think, in the next couple of test matches, because you could just see it in his body language with his keeping as well, that he was just feeling it a little bit. So he'll be delighted with that. And there's been some positives, haven't they? They've been positives from this, this Test match. I thought the way we bowled yesterday morning, yesterday morning, and got those. What was it, six for, six for 38. Six for 38. So. So you take that down to Melbourne. Good resistance and good fight. Good knock by Crawley who sort of seems to have got stuck in a bit and instead of just wafting around outside off stump. So positives, but obviously very disappointing as well.

I mean, one of the really interesting aspects this game is that England have played in a different way, haven't they? They. It's been absolutely clear we've not. Okay, the old aggressive shot. Smith, you know, eventually went back into old mode, but he, he reigned himself in. But England have played differently today and in, in previous parts of the game as well. You think of Stokes in the first innings, you know, five hours for his 80. And Jax today, 137 balls for his 47 cast battled away as well for, for 39. So they brought this sort of strategy into the series, but by the third test they've.

Yeah, well, they've flipped it well. They've had to and just adapt and change the tempo a bit. I thought the way Zach Crawley played yesterday was, was good. Kept the good ones out and then the odd ball that was there to. In his zone, he put away. So yeah, England went down what's about three and a half and over, which is a little bit unusual for them in the last sort of couple of years. But it showed that they've got fight left in them and I'm looking forward to Melbourne.

Yeah, I, I think also is, is there, is there a question that perhaps they don't trust their defensive technique enough? You know, they almost think, well, hold on a minute. I don't know whether I've got that sort of game in, in me because I don't think I can just sort of like block, block and wear people down. So I may as well have a little bit of a dart.

Well, you can't just block block.

Well, no, no, but you know what I mean. You know, just sort of. Yeah, you've got to sort of. You've got to have that foundation of.

Well, you've got to back yourself for a defense. Just find it back yourself to take them on. Yeah, but yeah, to keep the good ones out and building innings.

Yeah, no, absolutely. So perhaps that might be a little something to perhaps think about, you know, work on, work on your, your starting point. Point is being able to hang around and survive and then the shots will come.

It's called positive defense.

Yes.

And I think we've seen in this test match actually, you know, players who've given themselves Some time have you been able to. To flourish and you can then see the bowlers getting a bit tired and not to say frustrated because Australia, they, you know, they've played lots of cricket where the kookaburra ball is being employed and the pitches are flat and they've had to be patient. But it just shows you what you can achieve if you just keep on going. And what they haven't been able to do is really just go the extra mile in this game.

You've got to give yourself time. As soon as you walk out there, you're not sure how the ball's coming on, what the bounce, what the carry's like. Give yourself a chance to get used to that and when you do, then you can start playing some more positive shots. But to come out from ball one and try to of play and play shots, you know, Ducket, I think, is a great example. He doesn't want to leave any ball and it's. I think it's brought him undone here.

I don't actually, I don't see that as positive, you know, but no, I don't necessarily see, you know, whack, whacking away as a positive thing. Sometimes a positive thing is to get yourself in. That's the positive thing. And then to move through, to be.

There at the end of the session, then be at the next session. They're positives.

Yeah, that, that's positive. Instead of like, oh, I scored a fantastic 40 and I was really positive and oh, but you got out, you know that. So it's a different way of looking at sort of how, how to be positive in a game of cricket. Sometimes I bow and bowl three or four or five maidens on the trot. That's positive, you know, just because I haven't sort of tried to pitch one leg and hit off, so to speak. That's not negative but, you know, things thin to build on. But we're, we're sitting here again, aren't we sort of kicking ourselves a bit because we just fancied that there might be an opportunity with this side and, and a few sort of chinks in the Australian armor. I don't think we will. I don't think we'll win until we get Mr. Cumming, Stark Line, all these boys retire and then we'll have another go.

I mean, looking back though, it's three nil. Do you think England were right to have, you know, or anyone supporters were right to be positive about this series? Or was that really. When you, when you look back, you see what Australia, what didn't have, you know, weren't able to put on the field, but still able to win 3 nil. That was actually really, in hindsight. I know hindsight's a great word, but wishful thinking.

Yeah.

You got to come to this tour being positive and I think the way. Way England's way, they've played and given a lot of entertainment to their fans. It's coming here. You've got to be positive. You got to look forward to it. This is the ultimate for an England cricketer. This is ultimate for an Australian cricketer playing in Ashes and to. To go to England as, as an Aussie, we love that and vice versa. So, yeah, it.

Right, let's go to Jonathan.

Thank you very much, Simon. Down here in the sunshine, I have Brendan McCullum with me, England's coach, of course. Well, I mean, how do you feel about that game?

We're obviously disappointed to lost the opportunity to win the Ashes, but I thought today, the last couple of days has been much better. You know, I think it's amazing what can be achieved when you just play. I think sometimes puts so much pressure on yourself and. And there's so much. You just end up thinking about things other than just playing the game. And I think the last couple of days we just got back to doing what we do, which is just immersing ourselves in the moment and playing and we're much, much better. Obviously disappointed to lose. We've been outplayed in all three test matches by a formidable Australian performance. Batting, bowling and fielding. And I think, you know, the last couple of days is better for us, but we're obviously standing here sitting three zero down.

Yeah. There seems to have been a more measured tempo, particularly about the batting in this match. Is that a conscience thing or is that just something that's happened?

Look, it's not so much about tempo. It's about. It's been able to make good decisions and pressure moments. And, you know, we've. For us, right from the get go, it's never been about scoring rates. It's about making sure that you. You respect what's coming at you. You're present in the moment. You're. You're assessing the conditions, you're identifying what the levels of risk are, but also what the opportunities are and work out how you try and counter that and be able to apply pressure when you need to and also absorb pressure when you have to as well. I don't think we've quite got that balance right in the previous encounters in this series, and it was probably the last two days where we were able to do it with both bat and ball, which sort of is a bit frustrating as well because you sit there and you go, well, if we had gotten onto that a bit earlier, if we were able to find that a little bit earlier, then we'd be a lot more competitive. But I thought the boys were excellent today. They showed some great application and they bounced off each other and they were obviously trying to take the game as deep as what we possibly could and try and see if the pressure would come on Australia. We didn't quite get there, but I thought it was a fine achievement.

It must be frustrating to sit and watch a much better performance like that coming a little bit too late.

Yeah, but it's not just the batting either. Agars, I think with the, with the ball, we took six for 70 on the morning of the fourth day. And I thought our accuracy of the ball, the fields that we had, the intensity that we had and our precision with our lengths and our lines and our plans was much more polished than what it had been over the previous couple of test matches. And I thought our energy in the field was brilliant too. I thought across the board it was an improved performance. It was just frustrating that it's come with this, this time.

Yeah.

Jo, I got to mention him. He had a terrific all round game.

He's had a terrific series, to be honest. I think he's, he's bowed brilliantly for us, he's batted well. He's obviously he's been in some big moments as well and, and he stepped up. He's a wonderful cricketer and now we know how much playing for England means to him as well. And you see that when he chases the ball to the boundary and puts his body through some stuff. He's worked unbelievably hard over the last couple of years, turned down some significant opportunities around the world and short version cricket to commit to playing for England and Test cricket and he's left it all out there and he's been immense for us.

How do you plan ahead for these next two games? I mean, do you draw a line under what's happened and take a deep breath and go forward, or is it a case of winning these two matches and trying to get it three, two.

It's definitely about winning these next two matches. I think if we play like we did over the last two days, we give ourselves a much better opportunity of being able to, being able to salvage something out of the last two Test matches. It's not easy coming down here we appreciated that when we arrived. We came with high expectations, high hopes and ambitions, and we haven't lived up to it so far. But there's still two more opportunities. And for us, we want to be able to show what we're capable of achieving down here in tough conditions against a very strong, formidable and precise Australian team. But that's what's in front of us. Obviously, this one's going to hurt. It's disappointing when you lose and I'm sure there'll be plenty of questions asked, and rightfully so. You know, we haven't got everything right. I haven't got everything right as a coach either, and I put my hand up for that. And you accept that and you try and work out ways that you can try and I guess, work, identify things which you need to make sure that you polish up on to give yourselves more chance.

What in particular do you think you haven't got right as coach?

Look, I think I've been very strong about the conviction we've had in our preparation and obviously for us it was a matter of trying to. Trying to replicate what we have done in previous series, which have been successful for us away from home with our preparation. Maybe we didn't quite get that right and I'll acknowledge that. And there's no exact science, but, you know, obviously we haven't won. So therefore you point back to things you could have done or might have done differently. And so if you're in that same situation next time, would you make change? And they're the conversations you got to mull over in your own head and obviously around the squad as well. So there's a couple of things like that. And obviously we haven't been as accurate or precise as what we need to with the ball. We haven't been able to score the volume of runs and we've dropped a few catches as well. I think credit goes to Australia. They have been as precise a team as what I've seen in the last few years, and they've just put us under immense pressure throughout. And we've only really had probably fleeting moments throughout the last three test matches where we feel as if we were on top or in a position of strength and. And even those were kind of ripped away from us at critical junctures. You know, fair play to Australia.

Yeah, I guess you're talking about preparation. Is that sort of pre first test preparation you would do differently again?

Yeah, probably. I mean, not just that, but also the five intense training days leading into Brisbane when we knew it was going to Be hot. And I think there's just a few things that you look at retrospectively and you've got to be careful because you need conviction in what your methods are. But you'll see you're not too, you're not too ignorant to admit that if you haven't quite got something right. And I'll put my hand up on that, you know, that's your job as coaches to try and you try and get performance on the field and then when you don't get performance, you look back on some things which you might not have quite got right. And, you know, I was confident that we had it right, but obviously we didn't because we haven't played as well as we should have.

Good luck in Melbourne, Brendan, thank you for your honesty to catch up with you. There we go. So that's Brendan McCullum talking to me down here. We'll get Ben Stokes in a moment, but I, I guess you can hear me up there. Some interesting points there raised to a degree.

Yes, definitely, Jonathan. I mean that's the first time I think we've heard Brendan say the preparation wasn't right. I, I mean, more pointing, it seemed, towards the Gabba, but also pre series as well. The other thing I thought was interesting as well, that word conviction he used, you know, that kind of the way England play. And obviously we've seen something different in this test match from. We haven't seen that sort of really ultra attacking approach that perhaps that undid them in Perth, which, you know, has set this all in train. Does that seem how you, how you read it, Jonathan?

Yes, absolutely. I thought that was, Yeah, I didn't expect Brendan to be quite so honest if I was, you know, that's the wrong word to put his hands up like that. I mean, I think part of what we've been used to these last three years or so is, is the England management and I include Ben Stokes in that as well as just kind of just saying we do our own thing, we don't care what you say, this is what we're going to do. I'll go back to the, you know, the old timers comments and that sort of stuff. You know, that's generally been the way they've done it. But no, he looked me in the eye there and that was that, that's, that was really quite, quite a surprise that this regime, to call it that sort of word has actually put its hands up and said we've got some things wrong because we haven't heard that, have we?

No, but I Mean, and now it is over. I think that was a very honest. And you know, I thought it spoke really well there, you know, you know, you're not going to come out after Perth and go, oh my God, we got it wrong, you know, I mean, because it's. You're still in the Ashes, so you're going to have that wall around you and the courage, you can convictions and we've got it right. We just need to play a little bit better. The word that I, I think summed up Australia and, and England was precise. England haven't been precise enough. Shot selections, balls, bowl catches and everything. So how you work on that, I'm afraid, is hard work, you know, as well as mental stuff and preparation and what have you. You've got to. Bowlers have got to get it in the legs, batters have got to groove. Technique.

Yeah. But I think the last few days England have shown that they're good enough to compete and they can do it. And I like what's coming out of the England camp now. We saw a little bit of it in Brisbane, but just listening to, just listening to McCollum then just the honesty rather than coming, oh, everything's great. It's this everything. Know we're exactly where we want to be and it's just like, you know, we all can see that's not 100% true by what he said there. All you want is just some, you know, honesty might be a little bit harsh, but just what's happening, just how it is. Say how it is. Don't try to sugarcoat it, just to deliver it. And yeah, that's coming out. And so I'm, I'm, I'm. I think England team are slowly becoming to actually a very good place. And the next two games I think they're going to really compete.

Yeah, no, but I mean, I can understand that. You know, you're coming over here, you feel confident, everything. You don't want to start saying, you know, we haven't got anything right or anything. Even if you lose the odd game or two, you know, you want to be back at your players. You want to be. No, but this isn't so I can understand that. But, you know, Ashes have gone and he's come out and he said, right, okay, you know, might have got a few things wrong. We need to look at it, we need to move forward, we need to improve.

I suppose England supporters will say no. There's a bit of hindsight here, of course, because I think there are a lot of people who were reasonably Confident England could compete. Down here is England's approach right at the start of the series. Was it going to work against a discipline?

Ben Slokes is coming now.

Okay, let's hear from you, Jonathan.

Go on. Hi, Ben. Yeah, nice to see. Well, how do you feel after that? It's a bit frustrating. I would imagine that was a much improved performance.

Yeah, it's full of mixed emotions. Obviously you know, what we came here to do, we can no longer do, but. Yeah, and then you sort of look at what we managed to do throughout the five days and in terms of especially on the back of last week, you know, to take it as sort of doesn't seem like it's close but you know, there were moments there where I thought we're going to pull off another heist that we've done on quite a few times. But again, I think it's just, it just goes back to the, our execution not being good enough for long enough and yeah, when you, when you come up against a team like Australia in their conditions who just execute over and over and over again, you know, when you can look back on the first three games and know that's sort of where definitely where not been good enough. But this week, yeah, although we've on the end of the result that we didn't want, I honestly can take a lot out of what we've got to do over the next two games in terms of what I was asking for last week. The, you know, the character, the fight, the standing up to whatever Australia, you know, throws at us at whatever moment it may be, you know, we were starting off the day when we get put into, you know, bowl, I think bowling them out for under par total. But then we just weren't able to respond in the way that we wanted to with the battle. We knew that we had a great opportunity to be able to go and put a huge amount of runs on the board and put Australia on the back foot, but we just weren't able to do that. But we were able to fight ourselves back into the game and restrict that deficit to, you know, even 80. And then again yesterday morning coming out taking 6 for 40, you know, that doesn't happen by chance or by fluke. That happens by, you know, always staying in the game and not letting it drift. And again with the bat, you know, three wickets last night were obviously disappointing. But coming out here today and watching Will and Jamie apply themselves in the way that they did and even low down the order, Brydon, you know, just constantly, just wanting to, you Know, be there in the moment and, you know, fight for the group and fight for the team to fight for himself. That's something. I can take a lot of pride out of this as the captain of this team. And we've still got so much to play for in these remaining two games. We've got our own pride to play for. We've got the badge to play for. People are coming out over Christmas, New Year, whatever, so we ain't gonna just mill through these last two games. We know that we've got a hell of a lot still to play for and we'll still be giving absolutely everything that we have done throughout the rest of the. Throughout this tour.

Were you pleased with the response that you got? I mean, our last chat after Brisbane was that you're going to go there, had lots of things to say, meetings and, and so on. Are you pleased with how that has turned out here?

Yeah, definitely. It's in, you know, definitely seen glimpses of, you know, taking responsibility at the moment when you've got that opportunity to go out there and, you know, it's your time and it's your moment for the team. And if we can look to build on that and understand that, you know, moments in the game, you know, require a certain style of play. And we've seen how, when we were building partnerships, how easy it was to be able to score freely or whatever it may be, and turning up and yeah, just showing as much fight as you possibly can. You know, we've had some very good moments. But also, you know, on reflection on this game, we just, you gotta execute as often as you possibly can and when you're slightly off, you pay for it out here. And that's something that I think has just been a common theme throughout the series so far. But yeah, a lot of good to take out of a game, but it's obviously, your emotions are obviously a little bit deflated. It's hard to see that it did.

Seem from way up there, miles away, as if there's a bit more of a measured approach to the way, particularly with the batting. Actually, I think of Zach Crawley's innings for a start. One of the criticisms has been that it's been kind of a one pace approach over this last couple of years or so. I mean, was that something that's conscious or is that just simply something he decided to do on the day?

Oh, I think again, it's understanding the moment of where the game is at and how you feel like you need to apply yourself as an individual in that moment. And know, we, we seen Zaku, I thought, just played exceptionally well. And, you know, even Jamie and Will last night, having to go out and deal with that last half an hour of, of you could see that it was, that was the most important thing that was required there for the team was to get through that night, start again tomorrow, because that's when you win the game. You don't win that game in the last half an hour and, and they battled hard through that. They battled hard again this morning. And then when the moment came for them to feel like they were going to put the pressure back onto Australia, it just didn't work out, you know, and that's, that's the game of cricket, you know, it's, you know, fine margins of sport.

You've had your moments, haven't you? That's the frustrating thing.

And that's. Again, we have had our moment. We had our moments in this game here and we were so, so close this game. But yeah, it feels like three games have been so, so close and you can't be so, so close so consistently against a team like Australia. But yeah, as I said before, mate, we've got so much more to play for and, yeah, we'll be, we'll be flying into these next two games.

Good. Look forward to seeing it. Thank you, Ben. Thanks for talking to us. Cheers. Right, there we go. There's Ben Stokes again, I think, chatting with, you know, a refreshing, refreshing openness there about the frustrations of being so close but yet so far. And that business that we talked about yesterday about, you know, the door would be open sometimes, but then Australia would just, just slam it shut again. And that's really been the case, I think, during this series. But definitely interesting there again, there was, when you interview Stokes a lot, you kind of throw those lines out there and you wonder what the response will be. I thought the way that he actually praised Crawley's approach was quite significant as well, because that was, I thought, an acceptance that actually there was a more measured approach about that, which has not always been the case, as we know, in these last three. Three years.

Yeah. And you think back to Perth, I mean, you do wonder. It's inevitable that you, you wonder if England applied this approach that they've shown in this Test match to Perth, how things might have been different.

We win the game, get, get over the line. And I don't know whether that's by approach. Well, it is a by about by approach, but it's also just recognizing situations. Hundred for lead. You know, I can understand it A little bit, you know, I mean, I was like that at Perth, you know, it's like a champagne bottle opening, wasn't it? It was just like, wow. Everything was just sort of like flying along, you know, and it just needed. Just needed a cool, calm head.

Did it need this approach that we've seen in this game?

Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. Dedicate different pitch.

Afternoon session on the second day in Perth required this sort of approach, didn't it? Nail it down.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. So it's good sort of hearing this come out of the England camp. So it's about adapting to the conditions, but also learning, you're allowed to say, yep, well, we've learned from the first Test, we've learned from the second Test. We're looking to put it into place here. And then I think that gets your message across to the media, to the fans a lot more. So I think they've learned, finally learned, sort of midway through this test, a couple of things put things into place, executed better. And the result, the last two days, they probably, you know, session on session, probably played better than Australia in the last two days. It was just the first three days that got away from them.

So, yes.

So close. John, at Stokes, you said we felt we were so close. Is that realistic? Mean. But I feel it was, you know, two days in Perth lost by so and so. So and so. Brisbane, you know, beat and beat and here. Okay, we've taken it five days. You know, I've watched a lot of cricket and I do. I don't think we were a million miles away. That's the frustration.

Well, there was. There were three moments in the game, in the. In the series so far, weren't they 100 ahead at lunch on that second day in Perth. And then there were all the drop catches.

We could still come back in Brisbane.

Yeah. You know, put England so far behind. I mean, this game was probably lost in the first innings, wasn't it? England's first innings. And look, fair play to Australia in. In that first innings, they bowled really well. It's 40 degrees and they bowled really well.

The state of the game in on day four, if Australia came out and batted and, you know, I thought they were going to get another 200 comfortably, but they got knocked over. England sort of knocked them over and all of a sudden chasing 4:35 rather than 5:35, which everyone thought it was going to be. So, yeah, it's like I said, the first few days got away from.

Yeah.

Also another thing that he said, they're not good enough for long enough, you know, and that's with the ball. And. And you take a leaf out of Australia's book all day long in that 40 degree heat, you know, that was good enough for long enough. And the same with the bat. I think that some people think that not enough for long enough means, oh, well, it, you know, it wasn't whacking. We weren't whacking it for long enough. No. Good enough. Good enough just to hang around and then apply pressure in the natural sort of way. So, yeah, there have been some really good points and really highlights as well, but not good enough for long enough.

Jonathan. I think one of the interesting things, there'll be people listening to this and saying, well, why couldn't they work it out earlier?

I'm just going to speak to Marlon. I think, actually Simon, I think. Okay, he's just wandering over. I think I'm going to. He's taking his shoes off, which I don't think anyone's done. Oh, I see he's handed them to a small boy there. Marnus. Go and have 5.5seconds. That'd be great. Is he going to be delighted to pick up those smelly shoes, do you think? It's a very nice gift, I think. I'm Jonathan agu. We have.

We have met before.

Yeah. So that's. That's a nice gesture, but I guess you're feeling charitable and happy about this.

That's it. I mean, you can't feel any other way in the position we're in now after that. You know, a little bit of nerves there with some really good batting from Jamie Smith and Will Jacks there. And we held firm, you know, as we have been all series. Just, we're patient and, you know, it's a great feeling to be where we are.

Yeah. What's remarkable from an England perspective is actually we haven't played your first team yet. Yeah.

Look, what I will say is it just shows, one, the depth that we have, but also the versatility and the conditions that we're playing in to play Michael Nesser at the Gabba, because it suited those surfaces, we didn't feel like Nathan would have played as big of a part. And then for Nathan to come here and then straight away have impact in his first over, I think it's just a credit to the selectors and Andrew McDonald and Pat and Steve for what they've created. And, you know, that adaptability and being able to just, you know, whatever the team needs, being able to do that, you're catching.

Wow.

Breathtaking.

Yeah. I mean, I actually haven't fielded it slip that much. I feel it a little bit first slip. I usually run around and use some of the athleticism. I've got to try and have a bit of impact. But, you know, with Steve not being there this week and, you know, stepping in, in that position, it was an awesome, it was awesome to, to, you know, be able to do what I did.

Ask you, were you expecting this to be harder and I'm going back to Perth and that, you know, that second lunchtime lead of 109 wickets left, did you think this Ashes contest would be tougher?

I just think the Ashes is, you know, something that I've learned over time. It's just about moments. It's about moments and winning moments. You know, you look back at the, you know, how much different would that series look if England consolidated that lead? They had dominated. We had to chase 350, 300 in that first game. You know, what does that do to their batters? Confidence. What does that do to everything? And the series can look so much different. So I don't, I don't, you know, I didn't feel like it was easy at any stage. You know, I felt like, you know, at times, Joffre Archer bowled beautifully. You know, they built pressure. But at the end of the day, you know, to be 30 up, you know, is an amazing, amazing feeling. But yeah, I think it could look, it could look so much differently for the few key moments that we took.

That's the last one. I guess you're looking at 5 nil again, are you, Manus?

Honestly, I'm just looking at celebrating tonight and, you know, really enjoying it. You know, what we've achieved is something really special and then it'll be, you know, let's get the four nil first and, and then we'll, we'll think about each game as it comes and making sure once again that we just make sure we win those big moments.

Enjoy Christmas. Thanks for talking to us.

Thank you.

There we go. Barnaslavshane without his boots, which is now the property of some, a very happy young man. In fact, he's holding them there. They've been out in the, out in the boiling sun for a while, but now Marnus is going to sign them as well. That's a, that's a, that's a nice job. So there we go. A bit, a bit of a bonus. A chat from Marness Labashane as well.

Yeah, absolutely. So Marness is not thinking about 5 nil, but I'm Sure, Glenn is thinking, but just go back to that, just go back to that question Jonathan that I was asking before Marness Labashane came over and there'll be a lot of people listening to this and saying what, how come it took them until the third test to work it out? Because you know, there was a feeling was there last summer in England this idea of basball with brains. And actually in that first Test match in Perth, it was 100 miles an hour. Whether that was the adrenaline of the first Test and the pitch, the crowd, the whole occasion, I don't know whether it's kind of overtook the England team. But if they, why were they not able to? And do you think that that's the key actually is that one of the problems for them is they weren't able to adapt early enough in the series to the demands of playing an Ashes series?

I think that's absolutely true. True, Simon. I mean I said half jokingly after Brisbane, well, they be ready to go in Adelaide. They've had two games now. And I was, you know, I was kind of only semi joking because as, as we've heard now from Brendan McCollum though they, they should have, they, they accept they should have played more, more matches beforehand. And it seemed as if those first two tests were a kind of a, I mean they weren't a warm up, but they were a warm up. They were, they were sort of preparation that they had lacked. And so I, I'm not particularly surprised that they've come here and actually played a, you know, really good game of cricket or largely a good game of cricket. They've obviously they lost some key moments while they've lost the game. But they, they, they were just, they just seemed more prepared for, for this, for this match. But I, there still hasn't been the, quite the full sort of row back about bas ball as such. I, I, I think that Brendan kind of redefined it there a bit in, in that, in that chat just now. I mean if you compare their comments about their approach when they first took over to how that sounded, I think there's a significant difference, isn't there? I was just a bit surprised to hear that Zach Crawley kind of denied that in his press conference last night when he clearly played in a completely different way. And it suited him, frankly, it suited him. He played beautifully. Much more better shot selection and so on. And so, I mean I don't think there's any, any, any harm in them saying look, we're learning how to play at the moment. We're Getting this right. I mean, that's. And that's more or less what McCollum said.

And Ben Stokes, he also said, you know, and he knows all those supporters are coming out for the Melbourne, Sydney Test matches. And he said, okay, we've lost the series, but, you know, we've got to try our damnedest in the. In the last two matches. What do you think about the sort of construction of England team for those two matches? Certainly for Melbourne on Boxing Day? Are we looking at two, three changes? Do they need to rotate the bowlers? Do they really actually have to seriously make a change in the batting simply because Ollie Pope just doesn't, you know, look on it at the moment. And they just kind of have to say, well, Jacob Bethel, you're the next cab. You're the only one we've got. We'll have to give you a go.

Yeah, that's going to be the really big call, isn't it? You know, do you put somebody in there who's had precious little cricket, has got precious little experience in first class cricket, let alone Test cricket, and then in the one match that he played at the Oval last year, he looked all over the place, you know, he's still trying to work his game out, I think, but, you know, it's a decision. Do you put him out there in front of 100,000 people and he would play in Sydney as well, of course. You know, a massive event, the New Year's Test matches, so on. I mean, you know, can he cope with that? I think. I think that's the question. With someone as young as he is and with such little experience and such little practice behind him here, is it fair to put him into that now? They know him much better than we do and if they think, well, yep, he can handle that, then I think they'll probably do it. But if there's any doubt that actually this could be a damaging experience for him and that if it goes wrong, what does that due to his confidence and his career, then I think they've got to tread very carefully. I mean, one option, as we heard at lunch, is to put Joe Root to three and move Brook up to four. And you can have Bethel at five or six. That'll be a much kinder introduction to that sort of cauldron than shoving him in at number three. Because as we've said throughout, when Ollie Pope has been out there batting in the first over for much of his, much of this series, that would be tough on a 21 year old who's had such little first class experience as, as Bethel has. But hey, maybe they think he can handle it. I mean, they made him captain of the T20 team in Ireland, didn't they? Again, on the basis of nothing really, apart from a bit of a hunch. So we just had to wait and see on that. But I think that's, that's the one change batting wise that they will seriously consider. And likewise they think that K maybe needs a rest. He gives it everything, doesn't he? And he batted nicely today, but you know his jobs with the ball. Atkinson's had 10 days with his feet up.

Now.

It may be that they look at swapping that around. I think Tongue had a good game, but I think that those two changes for me be what they're looking at.

The Ashes have been lost. We thought they were going to be lost, but they have now been lost. What about the future of Brendan McCallum as coach?

Well, if I'm. I thought that there part of the sort of the clearing of the decks and saying I've made mistakes might be a way of softening what happens at the end of the series. You know, is he speaking to his employers there? To an extent. And he's not going to dig his heels in and say I'm right, I'm right. In which case, you know, if just say Brendan McCullum were to be interviewed, she will be when he gets back. But there were a question about whether or not they moved him on. He's kind of set out there. I think his like his plan for the future. We will reassess when we come here in four years time, he said was one comment, you know, we will reassess how we do it. Well, that's the sort of thing that you'd probably say to your employer in January when you've been called in to his office to find out whether they still want to give you the job or not, isn't it? So I thought part of what he said might have been for those ears. Well, as for those of us who have been talking about this for now for a couple of months.

And what does it mean for the others in the hierarchy, you know, Rob Key and also Ben Stokes, the captain.

Well, it's interesting at lunch again, wasn't it, talking to some of our colleagues in the press box, just thought of it possibly being a bit of a domino and that the three did come in together, didn't they? They, I mean, Key appointed Stokes, Key appointed McCollum, and so therefore they will feel some loyalty to him, I suppose. But you would Think that it's Rob Key's job that would be in the crosshairs. You know, you come out and lose a series like this. An admission that mistakes have been made with the preparation which we've been saying for ages. It's not hindsight that as everybody listening knows, we've been talking about this for ages. In fact, we talked about it from the very first day that this schedule was announced in the middle of the summer. It's been a topic of conversation. You're listening to the TMS podcast from.

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Okay, look, there's two sides to every story. There's the gloom, the introspection, the speculation as far as England are concerned. But there's also the joy of winning. So let's hear now from Australia's Ashes winning captain, Pat Cummins, who's been giving his reaction to Ishigur.

Feels pretty awesome. Yeah, amazing, you know, series been thinking about for a long time. Yeah, it wasn't easy today, but we got it done and yeah, pretty, pretty excited. Change room in there.

Yeah, I mean you really raced to fitness yourself to get yourself back playing in this test match. What did it take for you to get back?

A fair bit of patience initially and then, you know, the last kind of two months been a bit of a grind just giving myself every chance. But yeah, it's all worth it when you get days like this. Packed crowd and retaining the Ashes and.

It feels like patience has been the word for you. Anytime England brought a partnership together, you think about Joe Root, Zack Crawley. Yesterday you came on, got the breakthrough. Today when England were getting closer to that target, it felt like there was a lot of calm out there. Was that the key for you when it came to taking those final wickets?

I think that's when we're at our best. This cricket team. You can't really, you know, rush things here in Australia. I think you kind of will it to happen, but it doesn't really work that way. So it's good old fashioned grind a lot of the time. And yeah, I love the toil from all the guys today and got a little bit closer than I would like, but pretty happy.

I know you weren't part of the first two test matches, but just how much strategy did go into this series with England coming over?

Yeah, a fair bit. You know, I think first of them, first of all, you need more than just 11 players in an Ashes series. Five Tests and even three Tests in we've shown that we've used 14 or 15 players. So, you know, obviously Steve was great, but you know, I think it's always focusing on what we do really well as bowlers. Not trying to get too carried away with the opposition and maybe throw out a couple of different fielders. But most of the time we just focus on what we do well.

And you've been thrown a couple of different kind of situations throughout this series. And the adaptability has been really important for your guys. I spoke to Mitch about experience and how important that is, has that come into play. For example, Travis Head going to the top of the order. Usman Kwaja having to come in at the last second, no later line in the last innings here.

I think that's one of the things I'm most proud about this group. You know, nothing ever really happens perfectly. There's always something that gets thrown up. Over the last few years, this group's just shown a. You know, you just kind of crack on. You know, even I missed the first couple of games. Steve's stepped right in. It was smooth, you know, seamless. And there's always things that crop up. Nath Lyon, you know, doing his Hemi with a couple hours left today, but the boys just go, okay, that's happened. Let's crack on. What's next? And I think that's one of our, you know, the big reasons why we've had our success over the last couple of years.

We heard Ben Stokes talk about there that the relentlessness, you just keep coming, not just with the ball and the bat, but the fielding. Exceptional. Miles Labersen.

Yeah, incredible. I think Steve and he might have a fight on who gets second slip back next week. You know, on this tough pitch here in Adelaide, it wasn't too much on offer. 20 wickets was always going to be pretty tough. And, yeah, Manus manufactured a couple more for us with some of that fielding.

And a lot of South Australians here to witness an Ashes Series win. But a couple of South Australians performing incredibly well.

That's right. You know, Travis Head and Alex Carey don't know where both their statues are going to go soon, but they deserve it. It's such a wonderful place to play Test cricket. Packed crowds all five days. So many people traveling the state for this one Test match each year. And, yeah, seeing two homegrown heroes.

It was awesome.

Are we going to see you for the rest of the series or is it just coming in for the win here and then have a little break to rest up that back?

Yeah, take the credit here. We'll see. We'll see how I pull up over the next day or two and we'll make a decision. But savor this one for now.

Okay? Well done once again. Pat, great to see you back playing, contributing with the ball, with the captaincy. I'm sure Steve Smith would have been devastated to miss out here, but enjoy your Christmas and we'll see you in Melbourne.

Thanks.

You, too.

Pat Cummins speaking to isha go. So Pat Cummins, not certain to play in the Melbourne Test match. He's just come back from back injury into this game. There's a pretty quick turnaround and actually quite a lot of work today. It's quite, it was quite a tough game to come back into, Glen, wasn't it for you? Full five days, hot at times and a, a pretty flat pitch.

Yeah, Yeah, I thought he was impressive the way he came back. He hasn't bowled a lot in games or he hasn't bowled in games for a long time. And to bow the way he did from ball one was, was exceptional. Yeah, he's left, left the door open a little bit to, you know, kind of speculating of what's going to happen. So, yeah, Nathan Lyon's, I think, going to struggle so whether you want another one of your top bowlers out. And so, yeah, but I like what he said. They just, you know, that got out there, they executed well. And when you're bowling like that, you just have to keep hanging in there. You know, it's 11 against two. All it takes is one ball. Just don't get frustrated. And, you know, the Australians did well today too.

I know you always predict 5 nil because you, you can't countenance Australia going into Test match and losing. But I mean, realistically, at the start of the series, when you looked at the two sides, did you think that Australia would be 30 up after three?

Yeah, I can't help myself, so I'm never going to say anything else, am I? So, yeah, I guess when you look at it, and especially the way that first day went, and then up until lunch, you know, you thought, you know, England are right on top here. So I thought the first game England could have quite easily set themselves up and gone on to win that game. It took, you know, what happened after lunch then? An exceptional batting performance from Travis Head. I thought up in Brisbane, I think Australia were too strong. England showed that they hadn't played a lot of day night cricket and I think that really was, it was a big difference between the two. But here they've bounced back after that first half of this Test match where I think they're outplayed. They executed pretty poorly with the ball in the first innings, but they showed in the second that they can do it. So I guess, you know, it's always, you know, I, I talk it up and I said I was, I hoped every Test was going to be close. Go right down the wire with Australia just getting across the line in each Test and, and in that respect, if that was how it was, both teams are very similar. But if Australia just got it, I can still have my 5 nil. So it's, yeah, it's just one of those things. And you know, three nil, I think is a very true result of where this series has been today, the next two tests, now that, you know, you're going to see what England has learned, how they can adapt if they continue to, if they, how long they can sustain it for. And yeah, these next two test matches, if they turn around, play well and, and take over two, two wins, what's going to happen with, you know, McCollum, you know, the management, the players, everything else. So there's still a lot riding on the line for, for, for England for the rest of this series.

Yeah, to be decided on, on all those matters. Just, just one final thing. I mean, how good is this Australian side? I mean, is it actually the situation where, you know, there, there's never a poor Australian side. They're always going to be competitive, especially in their own country. You can say, oh, this team is not as strong as the ones in, in the past, but actually, come here, all Australians are, teams are pretty strong here.

Oh, without a doubt. And you hear, you know, Stuart Broad saying that the weakest Australian team since, since they won here in, you know, what was it, 2010. So it's, yeah, you're never going to get an easy Australian seam. I think there was moments back before that where they were a bit of a rabble. But you know, you've got, you know, you look, you would have thought you had Pat Cummins, Mitchell Stark, Josh Hazelwood, Nathan Line. You would have thought you had your four front up bowler, frontline bowlers for the, for the, for these three matches that hasn't happened. Yeah, Steve Smith's not, Wasn't there. So. And they brought Michael Nisser and you know, Scotty Boland in and Doggett in all played an important part. So they showed that they might be, you know, have the stats that, you know, a lot of the big boys have, but they can come in, play their part, they're adaptable. And yeah, like I think Pat Cummins said, if not just 11 playing that, you know, they've used like 14 or 15. It's the squad of players that are going to get you through and yeah, we'll, we'll see how England bounce, bounces back.

We will indeed. One of the stars for Australia in the series and certainly in this match was Alex Carey. He was named player of the match, and he's been speaking to Esher Gua and he said to Esha that retaining the Ashes is a magnificent accomplishment.

Yeah, certainly is. I guess we knew what was on the line coming into this match, and I thought the boys, yeah, stayed really present and played what was in front of us. And we know England are such a good cricket team and we're going to be challenged. And again, right to the end today, it was a real grind. But, yeah, for the boys to all chip in throughout the series so far has been a lot of fun, and this Adelaide crowd throughout the last five days has just been something special.

Well, they certainly enjoyed your knock as well. The century, the 50. In partnership with Travis Head as well. I can see you're getting quite emotional there, but, look, it must mean so much to be able to contribute in the way that you have and a special moment to get that done.

Yeah, absolutely. As you mentioned, Travis, again, something special here. Four Test hundreds at the same venue. I know how good he is and he's showing the world he's one of the best players. But, yeah, I think to have family and friends, to be able to contribute to Australia's victories is always something I'm trying to do, and to do it here in Adelaide this week was pretty amazing.

You're always going to talk about everyone else but that century. What was the key for you on this surface?

Yeah, I guess I'm lucky to play a lot of Sheffield Shield cricket here, and I guess it's a familiar surface against a really good bowling attack. We were. Were definitely challenged throughout the day and to be able to, I guess, put a partnership with Usman Khawaja, who came back into this group and played really well at late notice, was fantastic. Again, not surprising from such a great player. Yeah, I guess patience and, you know, trying to get through certain spells of really good bowling and then trying to pick up boundaries when the opportunities were there.

It was a poignant moment as well. And your dad would be so proud of you in what you've achieved. I guess that's, you know, as a young lad, to be able to dare, to dream. To dare to dream, to play sport at the highest level. I know it wasn't your first choice, but you're still contributing quite a lot for Australia.

Yeah, very special moment, I guess, you know, having the family, immediate family here, you know, to score 100 and to look up to the heavens was, yeah, something very special.

And you're keeping. For all the kids watching out there, what is. What is the key for you to Be able to put out the performances that you have throughout this series.

I guess, you know, keep to a really good bowling attacker. Gives you lots of opportunities. That's one. They've been unbelievable and you know, I've been lucky enough to come up to the stumps and, and keep to Baza and Nessa last week and you know, they're beating the bat and bowling fantastic. Nathan Lyon was. And again, fingers crossed he's okay. But he was really, really special yesterday late in the day. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun and this bowling attack is, yeah, really, really good.

Well done. Once again, Alex and all the best in the remaining matches.

Thank you. Cheers. Thanks everyone.

That's Isha with Alex Carey the player of the match making 172 and also keeping really well as well. Do you want to hear some more celebrating Australians? Okay, here's Mitchell Stark with Esha as well.

Made us work for it. Bit of a flat wicket and they played pretty well. But I think they're the ones that sort of insure a bit more and you have to work a bit harder, isn't it? So, yeah, another Ash's win. It's been a great atmosphere all week, all series so far and can't fault anyone today. It was awesome.

How important was your effort with the second new ball here? Obviously 126 to win after lunch.

Yeah, wicked. Didn't do as much as we probably thought it would do with the newer ball, but a shame for Nath to go down as well. Thought he would have done a great job with the harder, harder newer ball out of that rough as well. But again we just found a way which I think is a feature of this group over a number of years now as we even at times where it's not going our way, we can find a way to get ourselves out of line.

Pretty blustery conditions as well for yourself.

Yeah, it was a bit gusty sort of coming from all directions. But it's part and parcel of playing cricket with the footmarks and whatnot. But yeah, another fantastic there.

Have you enjoyed the responsibility of just really taking it on with that new ball? Especially in the absence of. Of Pat and. And Josh at the start there and. And then obviously not having Josh for. For the last couple of games.

Yeah, obviously a massive shame for. For Josh. He was flying heading into the series. So a big loss for us there. I don't think I've changed anything. Obviously there's been a lot made outside the group of. Of, you know, Pat not being there the first two this week he was phenomenal and he's the Pat Cummins we know and love. We had Nathan back this week and until sort of later on today he was, he was fantastic again. Ness, Doggy, they played a massive part in these three tests and Scotty, we know what Scotty does. So yeah, it's been an all round performance with the ball, certainly with the bat. The two guys playing at home this week have had a phenomenal week, so I'm really pleased for them as well.

You've had your own great time with the bat as well. Has it been nice to contribute? Certainly up at the Gabba and here.

Of course, always nice to contribute. A bit tiring, but yeah, I think it's sort of something it's spoken a little bit about in the group is how important those lower order runs can be. Certainly the session that Scotty and I batted in Queensland to get us to the night session played a big part with sort of the rewards we got later in the day. So, yeah, anytime we contribute with the bat is always important. Yeah, managed to get a bit of luck as well and yeah, good fun.

There's been some amazing moments right throughout this series. You talk about planning and strategy, but the execution has been exemplary. But also, you know, we joke about the age experience must count for a lot, 100%.

We do laugh at some of the comments that get back to us about how old we are and I think that plays a part in how calm this group is. Certainly it hasn't always been going our way or the rub of the green and I think that's certainly led by Pat and Andrew and how they've, how they've gelled this group together over a number of years. I'm sure experience plays a part with going through your highs and lows, but I think the levelness of this group being able to find a way from most situations and probably forgetting about things if it hasn't gone our way. So yeah, I think that plays a big part in all this. Obviously we've got a few younger guys and I think that probably rubs off on them a little bit as well. And credit to certainly all the players, but definitely all the staff led by Andrew, but we've got a big contingent of staff members and they've played a huge role in certainly this series, but for a number of years.

Just going to keep you there for a second. In you come, Trav. A special moment for, for yourself here at Adelaide Oval, but I'm just going to get a word for it from Mitch. How good was that innings.

Yeah, great. No, it's. If he wasn't before. He's the King of Adelaide, so I'm not sure he's going to have to pay for another. Oh, he's got a few sponsors anyway, but he's not going to have to pay for another beer. It's. It's great to watch, but it's not just Trav, but I think the partnership with Alex, the two guys playing at home, how much this ground means to them, how much that that partnership meant to us as a group and to get us to that position. So no, I don't know how he does it, but Jesus. Bloody good to watch.

He really is. Set it up the series as well with that fabulous ton over in Perth. Yes. You can go off now. Just a word from you before we get to your innings. On Mitch Starkit and what he's provided not just with the ball but with the bat.

He saved me at the end not having to bowl too many overs. When Gaz went down, I thought, geez.

I might be able to take the.

Winner and that'd be nice. Nice touch. And then I got panned everywhere. For the first three hours I couldn't hit the rough. So huge. We've had a sort of next man in. I've talked about a couple of the last couple of days about next man in mentality. We've used what, 14 of the 15 if that's right. No, we probably used 15. With a few blokes out of the squad and both coming in and he's been huge. I'm not sure quite how many wickets he's got now for the series, but I probably couldn't think of three games in a series better than he's had so far with Bald and then stepped up at the bat as well. He's been awesome.

Yeah, he really has. The whole bowling attack, Pat, coming. Coming in and taking wickets. But let's talk about your knock. 170 here. How special was it? Fourth consecutive century here at Adelaide Oval and you get the job done. Day five of the Adelaide Test. In 11 days you've won the Ashes.

Yeah, huge.

A few weeks ago, I sort of tempted the idea of finishing here, so my work's cut out for the next. I got my work cut out for tonight, tomorrow and organizing a few things in Adelaide, so. Which are already done. So I'm looking forward to the next 48 hours.

How long did it take you to organize?

Three minutes.

Okay. You know all the great spots to go here. We've seen you on a night out on a few occasions after a few wins here in Adelaide. But that knock, just. Just how big was it for you and how do you rate it amongst your other knocks here? Especially when you. You're thinking about the context of the series.

Yeah, I guess everyone's nice. You probably. Probably think it's right up there. Winning a series and getting runs in the second innings. Obviously. Yeah, we would have loved a few. I would have loved a few more today.

I don't know how long I could.

Have taken that for another couple hours. But yeah, obviously just set the game up in the third innings on a good wicket. I felt like it was there and obviously batting being a bit new to me.

So nice to spend all day out there.

Huge with Alex at the end, but yeah, they set a game up to.

Win a game day game three of a series to wrap the Ashes up is.

Yeah, it's a huge moment.

We're just playing 100 moment now. Jess was in the crowd. Your family here as well. I imagine it's a goosebumps feeling and quite an addictive one as well.

I'm looking forward to not doing tickets every morning. It's been hard work, but it's been awesome. I think the back's been pumping as it should be. I think we got what, I don't.

Know how many we had in today, but.

Record crowd. It's. It's been a huge week and. Yeah, as expected.

And you had to think of a different celebration this time.

Yeah, a bit of a rise from the boys. I got a bit of a rev up from the lads. I said, I've seen Davey Warner bow here, so I thought, I mean, the fourth time I might as well kiss the wicket. It's been pretty good to me.

So, yeah, nice touch.

Probably a little bit out of the comfort zone doing it, but. Yeah, you've got the riders out. I always forget that we're playing on a national stage and everyone's watching and all I'm trying to do is make 15 blokes in there and a few staff members laugh and have a good time. So having time again, not sure, but. Nice one to put on the wall, isn't it?

Yeah. Just a couple more for you before we let you go and celebrate. Seem to be enjoying opening the batting, averaging 70.

Well, yeah, look, I'm happy to bat anywhere in the team. Feel like I'm batting really well and I was disappointed with a couple of starts I've got in the series already. So when you're batting well and you feel like it's working and last summer worked well for me as well and trying to back innings up is really important. And yeah, new role. I like the new ball. I think I got opportunities to score.

It's a little bit different.

Obviously I can get off to a bit of a quicker start with fielders behind the bat etc. And navigate my way through that. And Ron's always talked about problem solving and I feel like that's what I can do for the team and I'm happy and I feel like I've problem solved well so far in the series and we go to two different venues now, Melbourne and Sydney. That last few years have been pretty tough with the new ball so I'm looking forward to that challenge.

Just lastly, how good is it to be part of this team?

Yeah, it's bloody amazing.

Travis Head and then before that Mitchell start speaking to Eisha Goer. So Australia have won the ashes. They are 30 up in the series. They've beaten England by 82 runs in this third Test match at the Adelaide Oval. Now I can still see in my mind's eye England celebrating at the SCG in January 2011. So that's nearly 15 years ago. Andy Zaltzman alongside me with all the stats. So how many games is it that England have not won in Australia, Zoltz? And what sort of record is that in terms of, you know, comparing with other losing streaks or failure to win matches?

Well that's now 18 Tests. Since that, that game at the SCG 15 years ago, England have lost 16 and drawn two going back to 1990. So the last 35 years of Ash's tours, England's total record Now Reed's played 48.16 drop drawn four, lost 38. Looking at just the first three Tests of the series. So that the key phase of the series, in those 10 tours, England have won one Test out of 30, drawn four and lost 25. It has been a remarkably one sided rivalry. It didn't used to be that way. Australia generally held the upper hand here. But England would win series reasonably often and win matches quite often so that they've been at 30 down after 3 in 6 of the last 7 tours. The exception being Strauss's victorious tour in 2010. 11. So 6 of the last 730 down after 3. There'd only been 3 such series out of the previous 27 in Australia for England. So these have been uniquely poor times. England's previous longest run without a win in Australia was was 12 tests. That was either side of the of the Second World War. So yes, it's not gone well, I think.

In summary, what other stats do you have for us? What else have you picked out?

Well, the, the. I guess if we're looking for crumbs of comfort, one would be that England are being thrashed by a narrower margin than on, on most of those recent tours. So looking back to 1998, 9, if you exclude the series that England won, the difference between the two teams in terms of runs per wicket is about 11.4 in this series. That's the narrowest out of the last, well, the last seven thrashings England's had. So, and I guess quite stale crumbs of comfort. Pretty, pretty, pretty stale. So there's, yeah, there's that and I think that sort of highlights why people thought this was going to be a more competitive series than it has been. I don't think people are expecting it to be, to be 3 nil after 3. In terms of runs per over though, England have conceded over four runs and over in each of the three Tests so far. 4.09 here and they scored at 3.35. In the last Test they scored at 3.8 and conceded at 4.5, the first time since Stokes and McCollum took over. England have been the slowest scoring team in consecutive tests. They'd only been the slowest scoring team in three of their first 42 Tests and never by a significant margin as the 0.6, 0.7 and over that we've seen in these last, these last two games. So yeah, the sort of bas ball has been well fully deflated when you look at it from, from those, from that point of view. In the last series in England, England scored over a run and over faster than Australia across across the series. So looking at the catches, I make it that Australia have dropped one relatively simple catch in the whole series and England's seven or eight. So that's been another, another big difference and perhaps the biggest difference between the two sides. And there's a number of factors that go into this is the inability of England to, to turn their good starts into significant innings. I've looked at the amount of times each side has reached 25. England have had 24 scores of 25 or more. Australia 17. Australia haven't batted as much because they won those first two test easy batches. A proportion of total innings, England's reaching 25 slightly more than Australia, but then they're failing to go on. England only have eight 50 plus scores out of those 24 scores of 25. Australia has converted 12 of their 17 25s into 50s and three hundreds. So England's average runs added after 25 is just, just 29 more. Australia's is 48 more. So once England gets in, Australia's finding ways of getting them out. And that I guess speaks to, I guess, patience in the batting, but also the depth of bowling in this, this test. The first, Australia's sort of had, you know, four of their, their first choice, five bowlers. Hazel was out for the series, but the other four, the fourth best bowler in this Australian team according to the world rankings, is the 10th best bowler in, in those rankings at the moment. So that shows the challenge England have had in this match. Specifically some of the Australian achievements in, in this series. Mitchell Stark, we heard from there two sixfers in the series, two fifties. Only one other cricketer in Ashes history has done that in a series. That was ian Botham in 1981. Travis Head, two second innings hundreds. Only the 10th player to do that in an Ashes series. Alex Carey in this Test had the most runs ever by a wicket keeper in a men's Ashes Test. Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon bowled a couple of those in the first Test, missed the second. Cummins coming in for this game. Cummins took six wickets, all of them top seven players, five of them top four players, including Joe Root, twice for just eight runs. Nathan Lyon, five wickets, all top six players. So they've come in and had a huge impact on this game to clinch the Ashes. So it's now for England's five Ashes series without a win. It's eight. Since the last away win in Ashes history, there's only been one away win in the last three, 13. And previous to that sequence, which began 2001, Australia won in England. Since then, just one away win in 13 series. Prior to that, there'd never been a sequence of more than three Ashes series without the away team winning. So this away dominance that we've seen, obviously Australia winning comfortably at home, generally, the series in England have been generally close, but Australia's failed to get over the line in them. We've not seen that before in Ashes. So that, you know, it used to be a lot more competitive in terms of away teams challenged, challenging for victory. And also what yet again, the Ashes has decided way before the end of the series, the ninth time in England's last 10 tours, that the Ashes have gone after three out of five Tests. And only two of the last 21 Ashes series, either in England or Australia, have seen the Ashes on the line in the final test, so that's another disappointment to add to the list.

Thanks very much Zoltz Comprehensive Ever. Now you can watch the highlights on the BBC Sport website and that with our full Highlights show on BBC iPlayer available every day of the series from 5pm The TMS Ashes debrief with Alex Hartley is also on the iplayer every day. Look out for our BBL coverage over the next few days on BBC Sounds as well. And we'll be back on Christmas night on 5 Sports Extra and also on 5 Live for a night of Ash's programs before the first ball at 11:30pm.

The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

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