2m agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 12:02amAshes 2025 live: Third Test at Adelaide Oval
2m agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 12:02am
72nd over – The sun comes out as Lyon approaches
And Will Jacks defends.
The next ball is an aggressive attempted sweep that sneaks under the bat and hits the pad well outside off.
It’s another maiden from Lyon.
5m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:59pm
71st over – Green is back and the bouncer field is set
So, it’s been working as a surprise delivery, and now Australia decides to telegraph the bouncer coming every time. Awesome.
Honestly, it’s like getting away with robbing a bank under the cover of darkness, and deciding ‘that was good, I’ll try it during business hours next time’.
Six. Yep. That’ll happen. Smith knows it’s coming so he just props back and launches the hook into the stands over the short square boundaries.
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That’s Smith’s second six of the morning and Darren Lehmann thinks the tactics are a good idea.
“You get the feeling they’ve flipped the switch and said ‘you know what, we’ve got 10 overs to the new ball, we need to get that total down and make the Aussies panic a little bit’. They get it down to 130 around the time the new ball comes in, you’ve got a game on your hands,” he says on ABC Sport.
Green feels he’s not quite telegraphing his deliveries enough, so comes around the wicket to make sure of it, and the angle prompts a very strange late hook that lands almost behind the batter.
A pair of singles gives Smith the strike back.
Short and missed. There’s a bit of discussion about a review for caught behind, but they decide against it.
Smith truly is a compulsive hooker and puller.
10m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:54pm
70th over – Lyon spinning it up
Jacks has almost chipped one straight back to Lyon, but he ultimately stops it on the bounce.
Lyon’s getting them to spin. Some are staying low and some are spitting up. Jacks is playing back to them. Every ball feels risky at the moment.
13m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:51pm
69th over – Green rumbles in
Will Jacks carves two into the deep, then reaches wide for another and is lucky not to nick off. A lot of playing and missing in this innings from England and that’s a credit to Australia’s tight lines with just a hint of seam and swing away.
He’s working him through point for a trio of twos.
Another top edge! But again it falls safely. The bouncer is looking good against this pair as (and I can’t stress this enough) a surprise delivery. Please don’t just pack the leg side and ONLY bowl bouncers.
15m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:49pm
Player of the series so far?
Player of the series is a bit of a log jam. Starc? Head? Carey as a smoky?
– Chris
Starc seemed to have it sewn up after the first two Tests, but the wickets haven’t been flowing as readily in Adelaide, and Head and Carey have certainly staked a claim.
Typical of this team that there wouldn’t be one standout, but a handful of excellent performers.
17m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:47pm
68th over – Lyon comes in to Jacks
We know spinners like getting each other out, so Lyon will … well maybe he won’t feel any kind of way about bowling to Will Jacks actually.
He goes the reverse sweep and the ball runs away off his left bicep. The umpire gave it runs, but I don’t think there was any bat on it.
That takes England past halfway mark of this chase. Just saying.
SIX! Plenty of bat on that one, as Jamie Smith slog sweeps over mid-wicket for six of the best.
22m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:42pm
67th over – Green continues
And Smith is slashing away outside off stump, narrowly avoiding the outside edge.
A bit of width from back of a length and Smith cuts out to deep point for a single. He really middled that and it raced out to Nathan Lyon.
Will Jacks follows suit, and his done himself a mischief as he takes off for a run.
He fell after he took off for a run. His ankle gave way in a very uncomfortable manner, but hopefully it’s just a bit of pain. At first I feared an Achilles.
There’s the compulsive hook from Jamie Smith, and his top edge lands just short of Jake Weatherald as he comes in from deep square leg.
That’s the right use of the bouncer. A surprise ball with fielders in place, rather than banging it in every time.
25m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:39pm
66th over – The lights are reflecting off the batters’ helmets
Nathan Lyon resumes under lights. This Adelaide Test really is throwing up every condition.
There’s some spin and bounce for Lyon, and Smith manages to squeeze a single out to the off side.
27m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:37pm
Cloudy skies
Jacks and Smith are both accomplished batsmen with first class centuries. But the cloudy grey conditions should be good for the Aussie quicks.
– Steve
(Getty Images)
It’s very dark out in the middle as the heavy cloud cover comes in.
It certainly could have an impact, especially with the new ball.
30m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:34pm
65th over – Big Cameron Green comes in for his fourth over of the innings
The new ball is 16 overs away, so no need to put more overs into Pat Cummins or Mitchell Starc.
Smith can’t help himself when the ball is short, and the field is certainly set for that, with a deep square leg, deep backward square leg and a deep fine leg on the rope.
Oh he’s almost chipped one back to Green, but the big fella can’t get his hand hand down to it in time. Three runs down the ground. I wonder if Smith is anticipating the short ball here so his weight was a bit on the back foot, which meant he drove a little more uppishly than he would have liked.
Beaten! Will Jacks pushes at one outside off and is lucky not to nick off.
A good accurate set to start from Green, with no short balls in sight.
35m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:29pmNathan Lyon will start the day’s play with ball in hand
Jamie Smith is on strike to start the 64th over. The Englishman is on 2 off 30.
He starts a little bit shorter than the rough outside off, and Smith is forward to defend.
Smith shuffles down and clips three runs down the ground.
Will Jacks is playing back as a shorter ball skids onto him.
37m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:27pm
The quickest Ashes victory ever
If Australia gets the job done today, it will be, in terms of balls, the quickest Ashes victory ever.
I think this stat from Ric Finlay speaks to the atrocious over rate we’ve witnessed so far this series, as well.
48m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:16pm
Is there hope for England?
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We’re all giving England the last rites — and fair enough too because they’ve been summarily beaten for most of this series thus far — but there is a slim hope for the Poms.
Jamie Smith doesn’t keep for his county. He really is just a batter and has the numbers to go with it. He averages over 40 with the bat in his 18 Tests, including an unbeaten 184 against India.
Will Jacks showed in Brisbane he can fight with the bat, and has displayed big hitting against the white ball in the past.
And then there’s Jofra Archer, who looked as good as anyone in the first dig in Adelaide.
It’s not unreasonable to think Smith and Jacks could pick off 100 runs in the first session and put some fear in the Aussies.
54m agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:10pm
Bazball? Boring ball? Don’t matter; Australia in 3
After all the talk around Bazball since 2022, with its explosive batting and impossible run chases, England turned traditional yesterday and put a scare in the Aussies.
Then the evening session happened, as Dean Bilton wrote about …
The painful truth, which became crystal clear on Saturday afternoon, is that it doesn’t matter which version of England presents itself. The Australians are simply better.
1h agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 11:04pm
Weather watch
It’s trying to rain up here in the Adelaide hills – is the weather likely to affect today’s play?
– Lynne
(Supplied: BOM)
There is rain lurking around, but only some very gentle morning showers. Nothing that will affect play in any significant way.
1h agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 10:58pm
Crawley and England ‘staring down the barrel’
Zak Crawley has just told Fox there’s hope within the England camp that Jamie Smith and Will Jacks can help pull off a miracle.
But last night, although not completely resigned, he was already signing something of an epitaph for England.
1h agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 10:53pm
What happened on day four
There were a few moments where England, batting like an honest to god Test team, looked ready to launch for a the record run chase.
Unfortunately for England, the Aussie bowlers refused to go away and Nathan Lyon got three enormous wickets to blow the game open.
1h agoSat 20 Dec 2025 at 10:37pmAustralia on the brink of winning the Ashes again
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I know we said it yesterday, but today marks another chance for Australia to wrap up the Ashes, with the hosts four wickets away from victory on day 11 of this series.
Also remarkable is the fact we’ve made it to day five of a Test, which felt exceedingly unlikely after the first game ended in two.
But, the equation is simple today:
Australia needs four wickets to win the AshesEngland needs 228 runs to complete a world record run chase and keep the series alive
Let’s get into it!