The Ashes balance remained delicately poised at lunch on the final day of the third Test, with Australia needing just three more wickets to retain the urn, while England required 126 runs to keep the five-match series alive.
Australia began Day 5 requiring four wickets, with England resuming on 207-6 and still facing an imposing target of 435 — a total that would demand a record-breaking fourth-innings chase. By lunch, England had battled to 309-7, adding 102 runs during the session but losing Jamie Smith for 60. Two sessions remained.
Will Jacks led England’s resistance through a disrupted morning marked by rain delays and an injury to Australian spinner Nathan Lyon. Despite rolling his ankle early in the day and visibly struggling to run, Jacks remained unbeaten on 38 from 120 balls, sharing the crease with Brydon Carse, who was on 13 not out.
Tension grew inside the ground as England supporters sang and chanted while their team edged closer to an unlikely escape.
Rain briefly halted play when England was 241-6 and still needed 194 runs, but the match resumed and the session was extended by 30 minutes to compensate for lost time.
Jacks and Smith added 91 for the seventh wicket, cutting the target to 150 before Smith attempted an aggressive shot and was caught off Mitchell Starc. Smith had earlier struck boundaries off consecutive deliveries from Starc and Pat Cummins to register his seventh Test fifty, finishing with 60 off 83 balls. Carse joined Jacks with the score at 285-7.
Starc claimed his first wicket of the innings — his 20th of the series — continuing a strong Ashes campaign following standout performances in Perth and Brisbane.
Australia suffered a setback when Lyon injured his right hamstring while fielding and was ruled out for the remainder of the match. The veteran spinner pulled up while chasing a ball to the boundary and left the field with assistance.
England, having lost the first two Tests, must win in Adelaide to stay in contention. Australia needs only a draw to retain the Ashes.
England has not won a Test in Australia since January 2011 — a drought spanning 5,462 days. Since then, Australia has dominated home Ashes series, and now stands on the brink of another triumph.
The highest successful fourth-innings chase in Test history remains West Indies’ 418 against Australia in 2003, though England has chased targets above 370 twice against India in recent years.
Source: AP