Mitchell Starc has bowled Australia to Ashes series victory after the hosts withstood an unlikely England fightback and Nathan Lyon injury to beat England by 82 runs in Adelaide.
Chasing a record 435 for victory, England were all out for 352 in the middle session on day five after threatening to pull off the greatest run chase in Test history.
Starc took three of England’s last four wickets to finish with 3-62, after being the hosts’ best bowler in the first two Tests.
But Australia’s 3-0 series lead only came after Lyon injured his right hamstring diving for a ball on Sunday morning, limping from the field then returning for post-match formalities on crutches.
With short turnarounds ahead of the remaining Tests in Melbourne and Sydney, Lyon’s availability for the rest of this Ashes is now in serious doubt.
The 38-year-old had helped set up Australia’s success on Saturday, ripping the heart out of England with three key wickets late on the fourth evening.
For a few hours on Sunday, England threatened to do the impossible, with Lyon off the field and Jamie Smith hitting four boundaries in a row off the second new ball.
But just as the required runs whittled down to 150, Smith inexplicably swung across the line at Starc and skied the ball to mid wicket on 60.
Then with 98 required it was Starc who delivered again, getting rid of Will Jacks (48) via a magical one-handed catch from Marnus Labuschagne at slip.
The left-armer also had Jofra Archer caught at deep backward point, before Scott Boland took Josh Tongue’s edge to end the match and kickstart the party.
“It feels pretty awesome. Amazing,” captain Pat Cummins said.
“It’s a series I have been thinking about for a long time, it wasn’t easy today but we go it done.
“One of the things I am most proud about this group, nothing ever really happens perfectly.
“There is always something that gets thrown up, over the last few years this group has just shown – you just crack on.”
Australia’s unassailable 3-0 lead comes after they outplayed England in both Perth and Brisbane, claiming eight-wicket victories in each of the first two Tests.
In all it took just 786.3 overs to wrap up the urn, the quickest it has ever been decided in Australia.
The success means Australia’s ownership of the Ashes will enter a 10th year, after winning it back from England in 2017-18.
The other miserable factor of this summer for England will be the way in which they have surrendered yet again in Australia.
It is now 5462 days since England’s previous Test win in the country, with that coming way back in January 2011 when Michael Clarke captained the hosts for the first time.
“That dream that we came here with is now over which is obviously incredibly disappointing,” England captain Ben Stokes said.
“Everyone is obviously hurting and quite emotional about it.
“I thought we were on for another heist this morning.
“Australia have just been able to execute things on a much more consistent basis than us.”
Australia’s success has come without Steve Smith and Pat Cummins featuring in the same Test, while injured paceman Josh Hazlewood is sitting out the entire series.
Cummins bowled superbly on return from his back injury this week, taking three crucial top-and-middle-order wickets in each innings.
Travis Head and Alex Carey, who was named player of the match, also starred at home in Adelaide.
Carey’s 106 on the opening day held Australia’s innings together alongside Usman Khawaja’s 82, as Australia pushed towards 371.
That was ultimately enough for an 85-run first-innings lead, as it took until Jofra Archer at No.10 for any Englishman to offer support to Ben Stokes (83).
Head’s near-perfectly executed 170 and Carey’s second-innings 72 also ensured England needed to pull off a world-record chase to stay in the series.
Questions will no doubt now linger over who could come in for Lyon, with Corey Rocchiccioli, Matt Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy all options.
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