Summary

  • Australia win Ashes

  • Hosts take 3-0 lead in five-Test series

  • Victory sealed before tea on final day

  • Malan 54; Hazlewood 5-48

  • 'Damp patches' delay start by 3 hrs

  • Rain leaks through covers overnight

  1. Postpublished at 05:08 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Graeme Swann
    Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

    Seeing the replay again, it stayed low on Jonny Bairstow. I was a bit harsh on him.

    He would have missed it anyway as he was inside the line but it passed under his bat!

  2. Eng 137-5published at 39.4 overs

    Moeen punches his second ball for four! That's lovely stuff, a well-timed push back down the ground, and he beats two fielders to pick up a boundary.

    Looking at that Hazlewood delivery again, it may have hit one of the damper parts of the pitch. It's stayed really low, mind.

    Josh HazlewoodImage source, Getty Images
  3. Postpublished at 05:07 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Moeen's in. He's on a pair. Good luck, Moeen.

  4. Postpublished at 05:06 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Graeme Swann
    Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

    That wet patch in front of Jonny Bairstow undoubtedly played on his mind. There was no authority in that shot. I don't think the ball misbehaved. He played down the wrong line.

  5. wicket

    WICKETpublished at 39.1 overs

    Bairstow b Hazlewood 14 (Eng 133-5)

    Bowled 'im!

    First ball for Josh Hazlewood and it has stayed horribly low. Jonny Bairstow is a bit tentative to get forward and the ball goes past the bat and cannons into off stump. That ball hasn't hit anything, I don't think. It's just stayed down and Bairstow's missed it.

    Jonny BairstowImage source, EPA
  6. Postpublished at 05:04 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    That's one over down. Just another 69 to go for England.

    Here's Josh Hazlewood.

  7. Eng 133-4published at 39 overs

    Trail by 126

    No ball! You don't see that very often - Pat Cummins has bowled three bouncers in a row and is called out for it by the umpire. That's England's first run of the day.

    Cummins changes angle and gets one right on the crack, the ball staying low and seaming past Malan's outside edge. Malan grins. I wouldn't have.

  8. Postpublished at 05:01 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Graeme Swann
    Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

    Some of the most remarkable scenes I've seen a a Test ground. On the groundsman's last day, on the last day of an Ashes Test at this ground.

    Then four men with leaf blowers blowing out cold air, while blocking the heat from the nuclear reactor which we call the sun.

  9. Eng 132-4published at 38.3 overs

    Short from Pat Cummins straight away, 85mph, and Dawid Malan ducks underneath it. The field suggests a bouncer barrage for Malan first up.

  10. Postpublished at 05:00 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Jonny Bairstow has arrived at the crease and instantly dropped his bat. Which is a good sign.

    He and Dawid Malan do some tapping about. It'll be Pat Cummins to start. Australia are six wickets away from regaining the Ashes...

  11. Postpublished at 04:59 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Imagine if it started raining right after the first ball, though...

  12. Postpublished at 04:58 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Some of the finest three and a half hours of rain filler that you'll read from my colleague, there.

    Anyway. There's no-one on the wicket for the first time today. Australia huddle and make their way out, slowly followed by Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan.

  13. Postpublished at 04:57 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    I've filled three hours of rain delay chat - here to take the actual proper sport is Amy Lofthouse...

  14. Postpublished at 04:56 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Pat Cummins is warming up, shades on. Here they come...

  15. Postpublished at 04:54 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Potentially this could be a very exciting last day indeed.

    Alternatively, England could have lost the Ashes in an hour or so.

  16. Postpublished at 04:53 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Stephan Shemilt
    BBC Sport in Perth

    70 overs to survive. All this has only taken 28 out of the day.

  17. Postpublished at 04:53 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Weather

    We were told earlier that there is 40% chance of rain every hour throughout the day. We could be off as much as we are on.

  18. Play starts at 05:00 GMTpublished at 04:51 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017
    Breaking

    We are about to get going! The session will run from 05:00 GMT to 07:20 GMT, weather dependent.

  19. Postpublished at 04:50 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    The longest that England's last six wickets have lasted is 39 overs in this series by the way.

    Every over we lose in the day's play helps Joe Root's chances.

  20. Postpublished at 04:47 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2017

    Stephan Shemilt
    BBC Sport in Perth

    Smith trots off, looking pleased.