Australia captain Pat Cummins said he was delighted after winning the third Test to clinch the Ashes series on Sunday. England lost control of the series after just 11 days on the field. England mounted some strong challenges towards the end of the third Test, but they were not decisive.

The last four wickets for England added 145 runs on the final day. But the entire team was all out for 352 runs and the margin of defeat was 82 runs. England were chasing 435 runs for victory. Australian bowler Scott Boland took the wicket of Josh Tong as the last wicket. He was caught by Marnus Labuschagne. With this, the Australian players and fans celebrated. Thus, the series remained in Australia's favor.

'It's been a really pleasant experience,' said Cummins, 'but this time the victory did not come easy. We had to fight for it. The last two months have been full of hard work for us. But in the end we deserved the victory. We proved to be the best in the decisive phase. The way everyone played their best, it showed what kind of team we are.'

England needed to win this if they were to maintain their challenge in the five-Test series. England were defeated in Perth within two days and in Brisbane within four days. Now the remaining two Tests of the series will be held in Melbourne and Sydney. The only sad fact for Australia on Sunday was the injury to Nathan Lyon and the match he missed.

He was injured while protecting the boundary. But he was not needed in the bowling attack, with Mitchell Starc, Cummins and Boland doing all the work. After the current injury inspection, his absence from the fourth Test in Melbourne is considered certain. It will also be difficult for him to return in the Test in Sydney from January 4. 'What happened to Lyon, it was not good,' Cummins admitted.

'With the next Test so close, there is not much chance of him playing. It is also difficult to find another player to replace him. But we have no shortage of players with international cricket experience,' he added. Cummins himself is playing Test cricket for the first time since July. He has a back problem and to avoid it, Cummins himself may not play in Melbourne.

He said, ‘Let’s see what happens. We will have to decide on this in the next day or two. I myself doubt playing in Melbourne. I will be ready for Sydney.’ England, on the other hand, have lost a series within 11 days of matches for the first time in a hundred years. England lost the series in eight days in 1921. The current defeat has raised big questions about England’s buzzball (offensive) strategy.

‘We are all sad, disappointed, our Ashes dream has been shattered so quickly,’ said England captain Ben Stokes. ‘We are in immense pain. At this time, we are also emotionally weak. But we are not going to stop there.’ He said there were positive aspects to his team’s performance in the third Test, the way they batted.

Stokes said, ‘I expect a similar performance from the England team. We played some good things in this Test. We have to maintain this in the remaining Tests. There is still a lot to play in the series. Now our focus will be on these two Tests.’ Before the start of the series, it was believed that England had a chance to win the Ashes on Australian soil after a long time, but this has all turned out to be untrue.

Moreover, England has not won a Test on Australian soil for 18 Tests. England last won a Test here in 2010-2011. In the previous series of England’s tour, the margin of defeat has also been in Australia’s favor, such as 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0. In the current series, the situation is similar at 3-0. Despite Stokes’ claim, the next two Tests will be equally difficult for England.  

Lathan and Conway’s record performance

New Zealand’s opening pair Tom Lathan and Devon Conway created a rare historical record in Test cricket on Sunday. They have become the first pair in Test history to score centuries in both innings at the same time. In this process, New Zealand has set a target of 462 runs against the West Indies in the third and final Test.

In reply, the West Indies have scored 43 runs without losing a wicket. The visiting team still needs 419 runs on the final and fifth day to achieve victory. New Zealand had declared their second innings at 306 for two.