Australia has retained the Ashes after fast bowler Scott Boland led a demolition of the English side, who were all out for 68 in the third Test.
Australia took the third Test by an innings and 14 runs despite only scoring 267 in their one turn with the bat.
Boland only needed four overs to get his figures of 6/7 in the second innings, and took out the Mullagh Medal as player of the match.
England were already 4/31 at the start of play on Tuesday, but seemed to be off to a good start with solid boundaries to skipper Joe Root and Ben Stokes. However, it was short lived, and their swift demise continued when fast bowler Mitchell Starc got through Ben Stokes’s defences to rattle the stumps in the fifth over of the day.
It was Boland who struck next, when the fifth ball of his first over found Jonny Bairstow’s back leg, umpire Paul Wilson declaring LBW (leg before wicket) as the ball would have hit the off stump.
Bairstow had already had a lucky escape when he was dropped at gully when facing Boland’s first delivery of the day, but this time he was heading back to the pavilion.
Skipper Joe Root was the next to fall to Boland, edging a delivery which ended up in the safe hands of David Warner at slip.
Mark Wood was Boland’s next, caught and bowled, bringing Boland’s tally to 5/5.
But the 32-year-old paceman wasn’t finished yet, only two balls later claiming the scalp of Ollie Robinson when he nicked the delivery to third slip.
It was Cameron Green who ended England’s innings and series when he beat Jimmy Anderson’s defences to rattle the off stump, but Boland was the hero of the day, and his performance of 6/7 was the best seen on debut at the MCG in the history of Test cricket.
This result comes after Australia won the first Test by nine wickets and the second Test by 275 runs.
The two remaining Tests are to be played in Sydney from Jan. 5 to 9, and in Hobart from Jan. 14 to 18.
