England are on the brink of defeat as Nathan Lyon stars for Australia

England avoided the ignominy of losing the Ashes in ten days of cricket, but Australia put one hand on the urn as they closed in on an impregnable 3-0 lead in Adelaide.

After two days in Perth and four days in Brisbane, Ben Stokes’ controversial side came dangerously close to a new low. He surrendered the series a day earlier than Nasser Hussain’s 11th class of 2002-2003 managed a generation ago.

They avoided that fate largely thanks to a show of heart from Zak Crawley, who put his reputation as a top-class dasher aside with a gutsy knock of 85 from 151 balls, but a heavy defeat on the fifth day in South Australia remained firmly on the agenda.

Set a world record chase of 435 to keep the match alive during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. England clawed their way to 177 for three before Nathan Lyon ripped the heart out of their comeback in 20 brutal deliveries.

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AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND THIRD TEST DAY FOUR SCORECARD

Hopscotch

The spinner bowled Harry Brook and Stokes clean before Crawley stumbled, leaving them limping to 207 for six at the end.

Australian skipper Pat Cummins had earlier done his share of damage, beating Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Joe Root with an expert display of precision pace bowling.

Jamie Smith and Will Jacks were together at the end, knowing it would take a 228-run miracle to pull off the greatest escape.

As Crawley and Brook built together, the last sparks of English hope began to flare up again.

The path to victory was narrow and dangerous, but almost visible.

Devastating spell

Then Lyon made its play. The champion spinner’s first 10 overs had been milked for 49 runs, with England deploying a steady stream of sweeps and reverse sweeps to smother the turn and prevent him from building pressure.

Australia had even turned to part-timer Travis Head for variety in an attempt to disrupt progress.

But when England hit thirteen runs at a ragged sixth over, Lyon were called back onto the stage and began a devastating spell.

His second ball back hit the jackpot, Brook crouched into familiar reverse but failed to connect as it snaked past the bat and tapped the top of his leg.

He stood his ground for a moment, wrongly wondering if this was a stupid attempt, but the ecstatic celebrations that erupted around him clarified his fate.

Shallow defense

Stokes came out with 258 runs still needed. It was a bridge – or several bridges – too far for a man who has done the unthinkable before, and he could only write off five of that number before pressing forward into a shallow defense and exposing his stump.

Lyon, with the left-hander’s perfect number of turns, did not miss.

If Stokes’ dismissal seemed decisive, the end of Crawley’s occupation brought about a complete halt.

Facing what would have been a very impressive hundred even in a losing cause, he made it three quick wickets when he was surprised by Alex Carey stepping off the track.

Discard pile

England’s task looked all but impossible as home captain Cummins made two early breakthroughs, Duckett poked his second ball for slip to continue a terrible tour and Pope was undone by a sensational one-handed catch into the cordon from Marnus Labuschagne.

Pope removed 17, his exact average against Australia, and seems a certainty for the discard pile.

Root made 39 and tied at 78 with Crawley, doing better than most in neutralizing Lyon.

But he fell to his nemesis Cummins for the 13th time as he sought contact outside the stump when a leave would have kept him on the hunt.

Injury

Earlier, their pace attack had shifted its mojo, reducing Australia from 311 for six to 349 all out.

There were two wickets for Josh Tongue, who finished with four for 70, and two in two balls for Brydon Carse.

Stokes took one for 26 in a seven-over spell, having been too tired to bowl at all on day three, and Jofra Archer wrapped things up with his sixth of the match.

It was a brief reminder of how England had imagined things would go when they staged this attack, but it was hard to escape the feeling that too much damage had already been done.

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