Steve Smith & Co have finally taken the revenge of the previous Ashes defeat by conquering the urn this year at the WACA, Perth on December 18. The game entered into its final day where the Englishmen, under the leadership of Joe Root, struggled badly to surpass the Aussie lead of 259 runs. Despite half-centuries from Dawid Malan and James Vince in the second innings, England’s batting bundled up within 218 runs and lost the match by an innings and 41 runs. The Aussies now lead the widely-followed tournament by 3-0 with 2 more matches left to be played.
Captain Smith was extremely happy with his team’s performance. The way Aussie pace attack outclassed the English batting order was phenomenal. Praising their performance, Smith said,
The bowlers have done a terrific job throughout the whole series … I thought Josh Hazlewood was magnificent today to get five wickets.
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Australia thrashed the visitors in the second session and reclaimed the urn with two matches to spare. Speaking on his first Ashes victory, Smith said,
Captaining an Ashes-winning side, it’s an amazing feeling.
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On the other hand, English captain looked disappointed on his first Ashes loss as a captain. He said,
Yeah, it is very difficult to take. They’ve outplayed us in all three games. We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to make sure we go to Melbourne and prepare well and put in really good performances there.
The guests posted a competitive score of 403 after batting in the first innings. The home team yet again dominated and took a giant lead of 259 after strongly batting for almost 2 days. A double hundred from the skipper and maiden Test century from Mitchel Marsh did all the damage for the visitors. A few good knocks from the English batsmen including Malan (140 and 54), Jonny Bairstow (119), James Vince (55) and Mark Stoneman (56), were not enough to save England from a crucial loss.
The next match will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground starting from December 26.
