And yet hope is most certainly what England had, right up until the moment it was finally snuffed out, and by a familiar nemesis.

For the first time in the series, the Player-of-the-Match award would elude Mitchell Starc, but his claim to the Compton-Miller Medal is now beyond any further discussion. On a day when Australia’s resources were stretched by a potentially series-ending injury to Nathan Lyon, Starc stepped up with the first three of the final four wickets required. His left-arm angles and command of seam and swing were able to extract rare life from an unthreatening Adelaide surface, and once armed with the harder new ball, the end was always nigh despite England’s doughtiest day’s work of the series.

The day of reckoning had dawned with 17 overs remaining until Australia’s new ball, so Lyon and Cameron Green shared the early workload to keep the senior seamers fresh. Despite some early alarms against the short ball, Smith and Jacks settled quickly into a confident stand, with Smith smashing a brace of sixes over the leg-side off spin and seam alike to whittle the requirement below 200.

It was a boon for the Barmy Army on an overcast morning, and their ever-mounting optimism reached an early crescendo midway through the day’s 11th over, when a persistent shower blew across the ground to force a 40-minute delay.

Jacks brought up the fifty stand soon after the resumption, but the biggest moment of the morning came one over later. Lyon, at fine leg, dived valiantly to intercept a Jacks pull, but was in obvious discomfort as he clambered back to his feet. It was instantly apparent that he’d damaged his right hamstring, and as the physio came out to assist him back to the dressing-room, his involvement in the series – as with his torn calf at Lord’s in 2023 – appeared to have come to an abrupt end.

That was the cue for England to step up their tempo. With the new ball looming, Smith cracked three fours in a row off the part-time spin of Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, and then – having taken a few sighters as Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins re-entered the attack – decided the new ball had to travel as well.

Smith reeled off a quartet of superb, imposing boundaries – two in a row off each man, including a straight-batted launch through long-off off Cummins to bring up his first fifty of the series. But just when it seemed he’d rocked Australia back on their heels, Smith attempted one big shot too many: a wild pick-up across the line off Starc. Cummins at wide mid-on backpedalled to swallow the chance, before turning to the crowd to celebrate with a combination of triumph, and some relief.

It was all too familiar from an England point of view: opportunity not so much knocking as ding-dong-ditching, as another moment of optimism came and went with indecent haste. Jacks, however, stayed true to the methods that had served him well in adversity at the Gabba, remaining watchful outside off and dealing largely in nudged singles square of the wicket. Despite one alarming deviation from that norm – a pre-meditated whip to leg off Cummins that he was lucky not to snick to the keeper – he and Carse carried England through to lunch on 309 for 7, a deficit of 126.

Australia thought they had their breakthrough shortly after the resumption, as Cummins pinned Carse on the pad, but umpire Nitin Menon’s verdict was a shocker – the ball was shown to be missing a second middle stump, and Carse, on 15 at the time, marched on. He responded to the reprieve by planting Head’s part-time spin over deep midwicket for six, and when he flicked Boland off his pads through fine leg, he had hauled the requirement down to double figures.

Australia, however, were starting to create chances and pressure with seam at both ends, and two balls later, Starc served up a wobble-seam outside off, and Labuschagne sprung to his left at first slip to pluck a fat edge in one hand, almost out of Alex Carey’s waiting gloves.

The end was nigh. Carse was dropped by Green at second slip – standing so close to ensure every half-chance carried – and even Carey, Player of the Match for a peerless performance both in front and behind the stumps, endured a rare blemish as Archer snicked one into his elbow: had he been standing back to Boland, it would have been a regulation take.

It mattered not, however. Archer has been one of England’s batters of the series to date – which, for a No.10/11 is a damning indictment of their efforts – but this time he couldn’t be the hero. A slashing cut at Starc picked out deep point, and eight balls later, Australia’s fourth home Ashes in a row was in the bag, and once again at the earliest opportunity.

Brief scores:
Australia 371 and 349 (Travis Head 170, Alex Carey 72; Josh Tongue 4-70, Brydon Carse 3-80) beat England 286 and 352 (Zak Crawley 85, Jamie Smith 60, Will Jacks 47; Mitchell Starc 3-42, Pat Cummins 3-48, Nathan Lyon 3-77) by 82 runs

[Cricimfo]

Australia’s dominant position in this match had been constructed around a bristling 170 from Travis Head, but England were clinical with the ball during the morning session on day four, six wickets going down in just over 90 minutes’ play to at least prevent a mammoth target progressing towards the gargantuan.

One of the central tenets of England’s Bazball era has been that they love a chase – the clear lines of a fourth-innings requirement bringing the best out of a mercurial batting unit. At 2-0 down, and needing a win to stay alive in the series, they had clarity in abundance. But even as Adelaide Oval remained on the friendlier side for batting, the size of the task ahead of England became crystal as Cummins struck twice in his opening spell either side of lunch.

Ben Duckett’s torrid tour continued as he poked recklessly at his second ball to be taken at slip. Ollie Pope was then given a thorough working over by Cummins and Mitchell Starc, though it took a brilliant catch from Marnus Labuschagne, diving one-handed at second slip, to send him on his way for what may be the last time in Test whites.

England rebuilt through the afternoon with a measured 78-run stand between Crawley and Root. But the immaculate Cummins undid Root once again in his first over after tea. Just as in the first innings, Cummins’ probing around the line of off stump was too much for Root to withstand as he fiddled behind, his anguish apparent as he thumped the back of his bat and stalked from the field.

In truth, there was very little Bazballing from England’s top order as they opted for a more conventional approach – scarred, perhaps, by their misadventures in Perth and Brisbane. Crawley scored one run from his first 28 balls, by which point England were two wickets down, but was rewarded for his patience with his highest return of the series, an innings replete with controlled drives and good judgement. Like Root, he was proactive in sweeping and reverse-sweeping against Lyon, whose initial six-over spell went for 35 and led to Cummins calling on Head after tea.

Crawley and Harry Brook put on another half-century stand, though Brook lived dangerously at times, despite an apparent effort to rein in some of his attacking instincts. He was tied down by Scott Boland bowling with the keeper up, and got away with a miscued ramp that came off the toe of the bat with his stumps exposed; as the ball rolled away to square leg, he also had to swiftly abort an attempted run.

Brook did capitalise on Boland dropping short to cuff a boundary, but his only other four came when reverse-sweeping Lyon – and that shot was to bring about his downfall, losing his shape in ungainly fashion as the ball dipped and spun to clip leg stump. Brook hung around, seemingly bewildered at being bowled, but the message for England was clear.

Lyon now slipped into his groove, removing Ben Stokes for 10th time in Tests with a ripping offbreak that drifted in towards middle and leg before spinning past a forward defensive to hit the top of off. When Crawley overbalanced pushing at one that went on with the arm, Carey’s glovework did the rest. England were 194 for 6 and not even the possibility of rain cutting into the final day could offer any solace, with their winless run in Australia set to extend to 18 Tests.

Australia had resumed on Saturday in a position of control, buttressed by Head’s second hundred of the series and an unbroken partnership with fellow South Australian Carey. They might have had designs on batting until well beyond the lunch break, to extinguish the last embers of English fight – but any declaration speculation was quickly shelved as the innings unraveled after the dismissal of Head.

England opened up with Stokes, the captain having not bowled a ball on day three, but Australia’s fifth-wicket pair initially went about their work in untroubled fashion, Head carving and clipping boundaries to go past 150. They had added 40 in under eight overs, with Head closing in on his career-best 175 against West Indies on this ground three years ago, when an attempt to hoick Josh Tongue for six ended up in the hands of Crawley at deep square leg – despite a late adjustment as he lost the flight of the ball.

That ended a stand worth 162 and Carey had other landmarks to consider, pushing Australia’s lead above 400 while moving closer to becoming only the third wicketkeeper to score twin hundreds in a Test. He was stopped short by Stokes – who had seen an lbw decision against Josh Inglis overturned by the presence of an inside edge in his previous over – as a well-directed short ball ended up in the hands of leg slip via Carey’s glove.

Inglis could not make the most of his reprieve, edging Tongue behind as he tried to open the face, and the new ball did for Australia’s tail: Brydon Carse removing Cummins and Lyon with consecutive deliveries before Archer completed the job, a collapse of 6 for 38 lifting English spirits – for all of eight balls.

Brief scores:
England 286 and 207 for 6 (Zak Crawley 85; Pat Cummins 3-24, Nathan Lyon 3-64) need 228 runs to beat Australia 371 and 349 (Travis Head 170, Alex Carey 72; Josh Tongue 4-70, Brydon Carse 3-80)

[Cricinfo]