All the stats and records from Australia’s thumping innings victory on day three of the third Test, which saw them retain the Ashes urn in front of a joyous, sun-bathed MCG
Boxing Day Test blowout by the numbers
6-7 The incredible figures of Johnny Mullagh medallist Scott Boland, who recorded the best innings figures by an Aussie quick on debut since Bob Massie in 1972.
19 The number of balls it took Boland to secure his five-wicket haul, equalling the record set by Stuart Broad and Ernie Toshack.
7.85 Boland’s average after one Test. At this moment, it is the best bowling average (minimum seven wickets) in the game’s longest format.
267 Australia’s first innings total at the MCG, which was enough to win by an innings and 14 runs. It is the lowest total to win by an innings in Test cricket since 1986.
12 The number of days it took Australia to retain the urn this series.
Australia retains the urn inside 12 days. England spent longer quarantining on the Gold Coast. #Ashes
— Sam Landsberger (@SamLandsberger) December 28, 2021
68 England’s second innings total in Melbourne, their lowest score in Australia since 1904.
1084 The number of balls bowled in Melbourne, which was the shortest MCG Test match (in terms of balls bowled) since 1932.
76 Runs scored by under-fire Australia opener Marcus Harris in the first innings. He entered this Test under pressure to hold his spot and ended up outscoring England's entire second innings.
18.75 The average runs per wicket for England across the three Tests so far this series. It's the lowest England have recorded in a multi-Test series in 131 years, since the 16.29 runs they scored in the 1890 Ashes series.
4008 The number of days since England last won a Test match on Australian soil. That came on January 7, 2011, at the SCG.
54 The number of ducks England batters scored in 2021, which equals their own record set in 1998. Of that figure, Rory Burns (six) finished with the most.
1708 The number of Test runs Joe Root finished with in 2021, falling just behind Viv Richards in 1976 (1710 runs) and calendar-year record holder Mohammad Yousuf in 2006 (1788 runs). Root achieved his runs in 29 innings, while Yousuf and Richards both had 19 for their runs.
1178 The gap between Root’s tally and the next highest English batter’s tally for 2021 (Rory Burns with 530). This is the largest ever gulf.
Biggest gaps between the two highest run scorers for a Test side in a calendar year
— Swamp (@sirswampthing) December 28, 2021
1178 - ENG 2021 - 1708 JOE ROOT, 530 RORY BURNS
881 - WI 1976 - 1710 VRichards, 829 RFredericks
697 - AUS 2012 - 1595 MClarke, 898 MHussey
668 - WI 2003 - 1344 BLara, 676 RSarwan
#AUSvENG
26.4 The percentage of England’s Test runs that Root has scored this year.
Vodafone Men's Ashes
Squads
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner
England: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Schedule
First Test: Australia won by nine wickets
Second Test: Australia won by 275 runs
Third Test: Australia won by an innings and 14 runs
Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG
Fifth Test: January 14-18, Blundstone Arena