Cricket Australia

The fourth Test is scheduled at the Sydney Cricket Ground, while the fifth and final Ashes game is in Bellerive Oval (Hobart), and Vaughan opined that to minimise the risk to players of the two sides, their support staff and families, the remaining two games should also be played at the MCG.

England lost the first two matches of ongoing Ashes in Brisbane and Adelaide and batting failure is the primary reason. Their woes with the willow continued in the third Test as England were bowled out for 185 in their first innings. Bairstow, who has replaced Ollie Pope for the ongoing Test at MCG admitted that batters could have made better shot selection.

Marcus Harris (20 off 51) and Nathan Lyon (0 off 5) were unbeaten at the crease at the end of play on Day 1. Australia bowled out England for 185 in their first innings and their openers Harris and David Warner had a watchful start. Veteran seamer James Anderson dismissed in-form Warner (38) in the 15th over of the innings.

While Australia recently won their maiden ICC T20 World Cup title in the UAE and look set to retain the Ashes under the former distinguished player-turned-coach's tenure, Langer hasn't enjoyed the best of relationships with the players, with things coming to a head after the T20I series loss to Bangladesh in August.

England were 128/6 at tea and their struggle continued even after that as they lost the wickets of Jonny Bairstow (35), Mark Wood (6) Ollie Robinson (22) and Jack Leach (13) and could only add 57 runs in the third session after being put into bat. For Australia, Pat Cummins (3/36) and Nathon Lyon (3/36) picked three wickets each, Mitchell Starc (2/54) took two while Scott Boland (1/48) and Cameron Green (1/7) bagged one wicket each.

Australia is scheduled to tour Pakistan for three Tests, three ODIs and a one-off T0I, with the month-long series beginning on March 3 and concluding on April 5. This will be Australia's maiden Test tour of the country in 24 years. Due to the security issues in Pakistan, the two countries have met only in Australia, UAE and England since 1998.

Cummins was a last-minute withdrawal from the side on the morning of the Adelaide Test, dropped as he was deemed a close contact with a person who later tested positive for COVID-19. However, the pace bowler revealed on Friday that teammates Mitch Starc and Nathan Lyon too dined outside at the same restaurant.

The tourists lost the opening Test at The Gabba by nine wickets, which was followed by a 275-run humiliation at the Adelaide Oval. And, going into the traditional Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from December 26, Root's men are staring down the barrel of losing the series within 14 days of play.

The 32-year-old Boland will become the first Indigenous male player to wear the Baggy Green cap since pace bowler Jason Gillespie. With captain Pat Cummins also returning to the side after missing the second Test in Adelaide due to COVID-enforced quarantine, pacers Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser will sit out.

In the absence of Cummins, in-form pacer Mitchell Starc shouldered the responsibility of leading the Australian pace battery while Jhye Richardson made a triumphant return to Australia's playing XI in Adelaide by claiming five wickets in the second innings. If Hazlewood misses out again, the likely pace battery for Boxing Day would be Cummins, Starc and Richardson, with allrounder Cameron Green and spinner Nathan Lyon completing the bowling attack.