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With more than 90,000 expected to have come for day three, the early finish will cost CA $10 million in lost revenue, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
The joke was on Broad after the team he branded the worst since 2010 retained the urn in just 11 days, but Australia’s pantomime Ashes villain had reason to sport a grin from ear to ear on Saturday night.
This was Australia’s first defeat to England at home since the Sydney Test in January 2011 when a third innings humiliation sparked a root and branch review into the national team.
Back then, Smith, the stand-in captain in this game, was a wide-eyed 21-year-old yet to score a Test hundred who had been brought into the Australian XI to inject fun and laughter into a demoralised team, an injured Ricky Ponting was nominally the Test captain and Julia Gillard was the prime minister in a minority government.
While it was a weakened Australia attack that felt the wrath of England’s smash and grab approach this time, the blame for the defeat should be carried by their batters.
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Presented with the opportunity to bat England out of the game, Australia crumbled for the second time in as many days, losing 8-71 in 107 balls.
Though Australia have the urn safely in their keeping, the batting remains a major problem, as it has been for the best part of two years.
Only three of the team’s top seven – Travis Head, Steve Smith and Alex Carey – are averaging above 40 this series or playing in a manner that demands automatic selection.
Recalled for this series after a hot run at domestic level, Marnus Labuschagne’s twin failures in Melbourne resulted in him finishing 2025 with an average of 20.84, the lowest in a calendar year by a top-four Australia batter since 1981.
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Veteran Usman Khawaja took the gloss off his revival in Adelaide by falling for a second-ball duck with an ungainly pull shot to the pace of Josh Tongue.
Cameron Green, the only other Australian to reach double figures, did little to lock away his place for the Sydney Test, losing his wicket to an uncomfortable fend well outside off stump.
Head combined enterprising, but not reckless, strokeplay with sound defence for 46, and Smith trusted his technique for an unbeaten 24, but the others could neither score nor survive for long enough to make it count.
Unlike earlier this series, there was no bailout from Carey or the tail.
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