Australia thrash feeble England to retain Ashes

NT Correspondent

England meekly surrendered the Ashes on the morning of the third day of the third Test as Australia crushed them by an innings and 14 runs to take an unassailable 3-0 series lead.

Resuming on 31-4, England were bowled out for just 68 inside 81 minutes, with debutant Scott Boland taking an astonishing 6-7.

Their final five wickets fell in the space of 30 balls as England offered the weakest of resistance in front of a jubilant home crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

England’s 68 all out is their lowest total in Australia since March 1904 and their ninth lowest score against them in Tests.

The result means Australia have retained the Ashes after just 12 days of cricket and will be eyeing a 5-0 series win.

Even by the low standards England have shown on this tour, this was an abysmal performance. After being blown away on the evening of the second day, England were always facing a tough task even to make Australia bat again. But no-one could have seen this capitulation coming.

The match was done before the lunch break, England’s batters undone the night before by Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins’ pace before succumbing to the 32-year old Boland’s relentless accuracy.

England arrived in Australia short of match practice but that is no excuse. They, simply, have not been good enough with the bat.

BOLAND THE BEACON

Mohammed Zohaib | NT

With great power comes great responsibility and at times one becomes the icon and the ray of hope to a particular community or ethnicity that awaits an opportunity to be put up on the world stage.

One such community Australia’s first people—known as Aboriginal Australians—have lived on the continent for over 50,000 years. Aboriginal Australians are split into two groups: Aboriginal peoples, who are related to those who already inhabited Australia when Britain began colonizing the island in 1788, and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who descend from residents of the Torres Strait Islands, a group of islands that is part of modern-day Queensland, Australia.

On November 29, 1996, Jason Gillespie ended Australia’s 119- year wait for its first Indigenous male Test cricketer – and, incredibly, no-one noticed.

In 2018, Scott Boland travelled to the UK to retrace the footsteps of Johnny Mullagh and the 1868 Aboriginal XI.

Marking his debut In the all important ashes in front of a 50,000 plus Boxing Day crowd boland took his first wicket as the MCG crowd erupted with joy.

In the second innings Scott Boland took 6-7 and Australia retained the Ashes as England crumbled to be all out for 68 before lunch on the third day and the chants of “Booland Booland” echoed the MCG.

On Boxing Day, Scott Boland spoke about wanting to be a role model for Indigenous youngsters after becoming the just the fourth Indigenous player, and second male, to represent Australia in Test cricket.

“It’s something I’m very proud of now,” Boland said. “I’ve had some messages from some mates and guys like Dan Christian, D’Arcy Short, just saying congratulations and really telling me to enjoy the moment so it’s really nice to get messages off those guys who were on the tour with me three years ago when we went to England.”