On this day in 2006: England surrender the Ashes after big defeat in third Test

The Ashes

England completed a lame surrender of the Ashes after they slipped to a comprehensive 206-run defeat in the third Test to hand Australia the series.

Having battled for 16 years and 142 days to regain the Ashes at the Oval in September 2005, it took England only one year and 96 days to lose them following their defeat in Perth.

Resuming the final day trailing by 291 runs on 265 for five, England knew the odds of denying Australia victory were stacked against them at the WACA.

Cricket – Ashes Tour – Third 3-mobile Test – Australia v England – Day 5 – WACA
Monty Panesar’s dismissal brought England’s Ashes defence to a close (Gareth Copley/PA)

They began the day impressively enough with England captain Andrew Flintoff claiming his first half-century of the series and dominating a 75-run partnership with Kevin Pietersen.

But wickets in successive overs from Shane Warne effectively ended England’s hopes and they slipped to 350 all out just two balls after lunch having lost their last five wickets for only 14 runs.

Flintoff admitted Australia had proved too good, telling Sky Sports: “Obviously 3-0 down with three Tests played is not ideal. We played well in some of the Test but Australia have not allowed us to come back.

“We tried to apply pressure but every time we tried to do that Australia came back hard at us.

“We’ve had some good performances but it has not quite come off for us. It’s not been through lack of trying or lack of effort.”

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