Australia reclaimed the Ashes after defeating England by an innings and 41 runs on the final day of the third cricket Test at Perth on Monday. With this win, the Australians also took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
Rain washed out the entire first session of play, and England's first innings heroes, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow, walked out after lunch with the score reading 132/4, still needing 127 runs to make the hosts bat again. Josh Hazlewood removed Bairstow in his first ball of the day and later accounted for Malan and Craig Overton, which took his wicket count to five, while Nathan Lyon took the wicket of Moeen Ali for 11 off 66 deliveries. Pat Cummins accounted the English tail as he got Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad nicking behind to the wicket-keeper, wrapping up the match just before tea.
The England team was bowled out for 218 in the second innings, marking the fourth time they lost by an innings after having scored above 400 runs in the first innings. "They've outplayed us in all three games and we've got to be better. The way those guys (Malan and Bairstow) put in huge performances was outstanding. We got to make sure we go to Melbourne and put in good performance there (in the fourth Test)," England captain Joe Root said. Australian captain Steve Smith received the Man of the Match award for his career-best score of 239 in the first innings.
Brief scores: England: 403 & 218/10 (James Vince 55, Dawid Malan 54, Chris Woakes 22, Josh Hazlewood 5/48, Nathan Lyon 2/42) lose to Australia: 662/9 declared.
