Player of the Match
Player of the Match

4.05pm: Was it ever in doubt? Well, perhaps for a couple of days in Brisbane... and for a while this morning. But not even some English weather could bail out England in the WACA's farewell Ashes Test; that's eight defeats in a row here, and that too having been 4 for 368 in their first innings. It's also the third time in little over a year that England have scored 400 only to be beaten by an innings. Smith was MoM for his magnificent 239 but Josh Hazlewood was the wrecking ball on the final day, blowing through England's resistance with the gusto of last night's storm. You can read all about it in Brydon's report, and there'll be plenty more reaction and comment on the site later, from George, Dan and Mel at the ground (in fact, there might still be time to get your #PoliteEnquiries in). To cap a sweet day for Australia, they are now 33-32 ahead in Ashes series. For England, the autopsies are only just beginning... Thanks for sticking around through an oddly squishy finale. Gnasher and Miller will be back to pull the crackers at the MCG. From myself, Al, Varun and Deiva, it's cheerio for now. The kangaroo is safe in his den, for another four years at least. Bye!

3.50pm: Done and dusted. The WACA bears witness to Australia wrapping things up at the earliest possible opportunity, just as in 2013-14. Never mind the weather earlier, the sun is shining now...

No sooner is Steven Smith out of the victory huddle, he has a microphone under his nose: "Captaining an Ashes winning side is an amazing feeling. It's a moment we've been looking forward to, so much has gone into the preparation, the way we've gone about it was spectacular, 400 is a pretty good total but we come out and got a massive score and only had to bat once. The bowlers have done a massive job, Nathan Lyon has been exceptional. So many emotions coming out, the boys are going to celebrate hard tonight. Josh Hazlewood was exceptional, he hit really good areas and got Bairstow early. To win an amazing Ashes series, to be 3-0 up and get that urn back, I'm really proud."

Joe Root is understandably more downbeat: "Very difficult to take but fair play to Australia, they've outplayed us in all three game and we've got to be better. [Pitch?] It wasn't fit to play this morning, it obviously dried up and I think by the end there it was probably fit to play. [Only 400 first inns] Yeah, that's not ideal, but the [Malan-Bairstow] partnership and the way those two played was outstanding, they should be really proud. From the position of 100-4, that's not good enough. We've got to learn from it and get better but there's good thing to come from this week. Those guys putting in big performances under pressure was outstanding, the way Vincey played in the second innings was proper batting, it took that delivery to get him out. We've got to make sure we got to Melbourne, prepare well and put in good performance there."

And Smith is then interviewed again as the Man of the Match: "Nice to get recognition. I'm really proud to score my highest score and put on that performance with Mitch Marsh. Really set the game up for us, to get us in the lead. I'm just so proud of the boys, the way we've been able to wrap things up here in Perth and get that urn back. The boys have done a terrific job to get us the 20 wickets in each game, we haven't won a toss and probably had the toughest of the conditions. [Worried about weather?] It was horrible last night, I've never seen weather like that here in Perth. We knew if it cleared, and we had enough time, we'd be in for a show. Credit to the selectors, they made some bold moves but everyone who's come in has done a great job. [MCG next?] Absolutely, we're going to celebrate this one first. The Boxing Day Test match is an amazing occasion, hopefully we can get ourselves 4-0 and maybe 5-0 in Sydney. Everyone has been fantastic to get us the result we deserve."

72.5
W
Cummins to Woakes, OUT, short ball, Woakes tries to ramp, but can only feather through to the keeper! Job done, England have been rumbled and Australia have reclaimed the Ashes! They're into a huddle, jumping up and down as the WACA screen broadcasts the news, for the last time in contests such as these, that Australia have won and recaptured the urn!

CR Woakes c †Paine b Cummins 22 (92m 48b 3x4 0x6) SR: 45.83

Short leg moves to point, fine leg comes in

72.4
0
Cummins to Woakes, no run, short of a length outside off and Woakes angles the bat and guides to backward point

"JUST 1 more session to go. What are the chances of Anderson and Woakes grinding it out?" About the same as Santa popping down your chimney to join you for Christmas dinner, Balashankar

72.3
0
Cummins to Woakes, no run, hits a length, shoots through low but Woakes it equal to it
72.2
0
Cummins to Woakes, no run, jumps into line and defends into the covers
72.1
0
Cummins to Woakes, no run, full, comes across and flicks to leg, in the air but it's wide of mid-on and lands safely, they won't run there

Cummins continues, 7-8 minutes until tea

"Cleverly done by Woakes. Wonder if the Australians will fall into the trap of just trying to get Anderson back on strike, rather than trying to dismiss Woakes," wonders Craig. Not much of a trap, is it?

END OF OVER:
72 | 1 Run | ENG: 218/9

  • James Anderson1 (7b)
  • Chris Woakes22 (43b)
  • Mitchell Starc17-5-44-1
  • Pat Cummins19-4-53-1

Anderson survives, as do England... but for how much longer?

71.6
0
Starc to Anderson, no run, searing yorker to finish, 142kph but the line is outside off and he bunts it away
71.5
0
Starc to Anderson, no run, banged in from over the wicket, doesn't get up that much and he defends

Two balls for Starc to Anderson... Short leg, leg slip in place

71.4
1
Starc to Woakes, 1 run, short at the body, Woakes hops and rides it with a flick through square, they take the one on offer
71.3
0
Starc to Woakes, no run, angled in with the arm and tucked to the leg side
71.2
0
Starc to Woakes, no run, fullish, straight line and met with a solid punch, mid-on is a little deep but he doesn't bother trying to run
71.1
0
Starc to Woakes, no run, round the wicket, full and looking to blast out the stumps, Woakes just manages to chop down on it

Mitchell Starc now, the tail-end demolition expert

END OF OVER:
71 | 2 Runs | ENG: 217/9

  • Chris Woakes21 (39b)
  • James Anderson1 (5b)
  • Pat Cummins19-4-53-1
  • Josh Hazlewood18-6-48-5
70.6
1b
Cummins to Woakes, 1 bye, bangs in the bouncer, Woakes ducks... and sets off on a run! Paine collects and has an underarm shy at the stumps, but misses! Smartly done, in the end, and Woakes will keep the strike
70.5
0
Cummins to Woakes, no run,

"Clearly something wrong with Anderson after that crack on the head," chuckles James. "He was smiling. "

England in Australia and New Zealand 2017-18 News

Comprehensive series wins

10

Number of times an Ashes series of 5+ Tests has been decided by the third Test. 9 of those have been wins for Australia; England's only such win was in 1928-29

WACA dominance

8

Number of successive Test wins for Aus v Eng at the WACA, starting 1991. The last time they didn't win was in 1986, when the Test was drawn

England's away woes

7

Number of away Tests England have lost in a row, which equals their worst streak. They also lost 7 in 1993-94; 3 in Ind, 1 in SL, and 3 in WI

Malan's WACA feat

4

England batsmen who have passed 50 in each innings in a WACA Test. The others, apart from Malan, are Pietersen (2006), Randall (1982), and Boycott (1970)

Lyon bosses Moeen

5

Number of times Nathan Lyon has dismissed Moeen Ali in this series. Moeen has scored 68 from 169 balls off him, for an average of 13.60

Bowler centuries

5

England bowlers who conceded 100 or more runs in Australia's 1st innings, only the eighth such instance in Test history, and the third for England

Top Scores for Aus in Aus

662

Runs made by Australia in this Test - Third highest score for Australia at home. The highest was 735 for 6 in 2003 also at Perth

Captain's knock

239

Runs scored by Steven Smith - Third highest score for a captain from Australia in an Ashes Test behind Bob Simpson and Don Bradman.

Mr Consistent

4

Consecutive years in which Smith has scored more than 1000 runs- Second cricketer to achieve this behind Mathew Hayden who did it five times between 2001-05.

Centurion Smith

108

Innings in which Steven Smith scored 22 Test centuries - Third quickest to this feat behind Don Bradman(58 innings) and Sunil Gavaskar(101 innings).

Warner at WACA

3

Centuries for Warner at the WACA . Before this innings he averaged 89.22 at this ground - Highest for Warner at a venue in Australia.

Double Trouble

1938

Last instance of a 200 run partnership for the fifth wicket for England against Australia. Compton and Paynter added 206 in Nottingham.

Strong Day 1 performance

305

Runs scored by England on Day 1 of A test in Australia - Highest since 2002 when they made 295 for 4 in Adelaide.

Maiden century

1

Century for David Malan in Tests. This is the first century for England in Australia since the 120 made by Ben Stokes at Perth in 2013.

Long time coming

2010

Last instance of England adding more than 100 runs for the fifth wicket in Australia. Pietersen and Bell added 116 in Adelaide.