Aussies dismantle England to put Ashes urn within reach

Australia have dismantled a hapless England in Perth, shattering the side almost as surely they were in 2013-14.

Australia's Josh Hazlewood catches England's Alastair Cook at the WACA during the third Test

Australia have dismantled a hapless England in Perth, shattering the side almost as surely they were in 2013-14. Stuart Broad has gone wicketless at the WACA. Alastair Cook looks just that: cooked. James Anderson showed up to the party so late the hosts were putting out the bins.

Mitchell Starc, meanwhile, has found a crack into which the visitors and their hopes have all but disappeared.

England trail by 127 runs still with six wickets in hand and a cracking pitch at the front of their minds but there is more rain forecast for the last day.

The Ashes makes and breaks careers and, as Nathan Lyon predicted, a number of England players are on the edge of the abyss, not the least of them Cook, Broad and Anderson. Heroes at home and legendary for feats achieved in the not so recent past, the trio look past it. The away series proving to be, as it has for many before them, one outing too many.

Before his innings yesterday Cook’s contribution to the scoreboard was half that of Patrick Cummins, who had batted in one fewer innings. After yesterday things looked worse for the former captain who was dismissed for 14, leaving him with 83 runs from six innings in the series at an average of just 13.8.

Cook was out to a brilliant caught and bowled by Josh Hazlewood in what is his 150th match. Before the game he said he had entertained no thoughts of retirement, but if he is not asking himself “when” now, then others will be asking it on his behalf.

When the end comes it comes fast. The 32-year-old is showing the wear and tear of all those innings in charge of the side and at the top of the order.

“Four games ago I got a double hundred,” Cook argued on the eve of the match. “I’m not going to sit here and say I’m setting the world alight, but you get through that first hour as a batter and you try to get a big one.”

Unfortunately for Cook he managed just 54 minutes at the crease for the match. The opening batsman admitted that while he wasn’t thinking retirement “things can change incredibly quickly”.

England scoffed at Lyon when he talked of ending careers at the start of the series, but the spinner’s golden touch has silenced many.

Yesterday he had Joe Root (14) brilliantly caught by Steve Smith with the first ball of his spell.

Smith, still glowing from a record breaking 239, can do no wrong at the moment, but no doubt would have liked to have added a little more to his overnight score of 229. The Australians’ eyes were wide with hope and alert to any opportunity presented.

WACA’S RECORD RUN FEAST - AShes

Starc steamed in from the Prindiville Stand end in the 30th over, jumped wide of the crease, wound his left arm in a low arc and slung the ball toward a small crack in front of James Vince’s off stump. The batsman had crafted an honest 55 and is among the thin threads of hope from which England will attempt to weave a future after this series, but he was not up to this delivery which flew from the fissure and took out his off stump. Vince could have anticipated it better, but most wouldn’t.

The ball’s deviation was almost as dramatic as the one that Mitchell Johnson bowled to clean up Graeme Smith on the last delivery of the 2009 series in South Africa.

Vince was philosophical about his dismissal.

“It’s frustrating to get out but they’re a bit easier to take than the ones when you are at fault yourself,” he said. “If I faced that another 20 or 30 times I think it would get me out every time, give him some credit there, sweep it under the carpet and move on.”

Hazlewood admitted the Australians will be hoping for a repeat of the Starc ball.

“I’d like five or six more tomorrow, but it was just one of those that hits the crack and does quite a fair bit,” he said.

“That angle from him around the wicket to the right handlers around the wicket is not bad, it is probably heading down leg more often than not but you just need a couple to straighten like that and you are in the game.”

Earlier, Australia lost 5-113 before declaring on 9-662 — a first innings lead of 258. Mitchell Marsh was unable to add to his overnight score of 181.

Broad finished the innings with 0-142 from 35 fruitless overs. It was the worst return of his 112-match career and further suggestion that the end is near for the champion England quick.

Like his new ball partner, Anderson, Broad appears to have little to give in conditions that do not suit him.

Batman and Robin’s days as the premier wicket taking duo of Gotham City are soon to be matter only for re-runs.