Ashes 2017/18, 3rd Test: What went wrong for England

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Steve Smith led Australia to an emphatic win by an innings and 41 runs in the third Test to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match Test series.

With the win on Monday, Australia reclaimed the Ashes series and England, who have now lost seven away Tests in a row, are on course for the third 5-0 thrashing in four visits Down Under.

The fourth Test will be played from December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Now, let's have a look at what went wrong for the touring party at Perth as the iconic Ashes urn returns to Australia.

#5 Top-order batting failure

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England, who lost the first Test by 10 wickets, the second by 120 runs and the third by an innings and 41 runs, failed in all three departments of the game, but the top-order failure has been the biggest cause of concern for the visitors on their current trip to Australia.

England's most-capped Test player, Alastair Cook has a series aggregate of 83 runs in six completed innings and has been a serious worry for the visitors, who are desperate for good starts.

Cook's 150th Test appearance resulted in two cheap dismissals at WACA, which has become something of a pattern for the former England captain in the ongoing Ashes series.

Skipper Joe Root, who often holds the key to a successful England innings, contributed with scores of 14 and 20 before playing some really lazy shots and making things even more difficult for his team.

#4 No resistance shown by the tail

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Unlike Australian tailenders, England's tail showed no resistance and bounced away in both the innings at the WACA.

Despite a gritty partnership between Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow, England went from 368/5 to 403 all-out in the first innings.

Tim Paine and Pat Cummins have been consistently contributing for Australia with the bat and because of that, the difference between the two batting sides has been a gulf.

Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes, who was called for the Ashes series to fill in the big boots of Ben Stokes, have been the biggest underperformers in England's lower order.

#3 Worst bowling display by England bowlers

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It was only the eighth time in Test history that five bowlers conceded 100 runs or more in an innings.

England's Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes and Craig Overton were looted for 100-plus runs each as Australia posted a colossal first innings score of 662/9.

A special effort was expected from the most productive Test pace pairing of Anderson and Broad on their 100th outing together, but they failed miserably in their milestone match.

During their match-winning partnership of 301, Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh toyed with England's most destructive pacers and made them look quite ordinary.

Anderson still managed to salvage some pride by claiming 4 wickets but with no wicket for 142 runs, Broad registered the worst-ever figures of his 112-Test career.

#2 Persisting with Moeen Ali

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Before the ongoing Ashes series, whenever bowling failed Moeen Ali, he had his batting skills to fall back on.

An excellent and skilful player of spin, Ali scored two tons in the series against India and cemented his place in England's batting order at five.

But in Australia, Ali has been totally ineffective as a bowler and a batsman too.

Riddled by injuries, Ali has been dismissed 5 times by Nathan Lyon in the series and his problems against the short ball have been exposed by Australia's high-quality pace attack.

Ali, who remained wicketless in the second Test at Adelaide, gave away 120 runs in 33 overs and claimed just one wicket at WACA.

#1 Failure to convert starts

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Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow somehow cracked the code of batting against the hostile Australian bowling on a pacy WACA surface offering plenty of bounce as they all got off to good starts and got some runs under their belt.

However, they all threw away their wickets after putting in so much hard work and failed to emulate what Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh did for their country.

With a 301-run partnership, Smith and Marsh tormented England and a similar kind of effort was expected from the visitors' batsmen as well but they failed to deliver.

Although Malan and Bairstow got their respective tons, their job was not done as England could not even post enough runs to make Australia bat for the second time in the match.

From 368/4 on the second morning, England went on to lose the third Test by an innings and 41 runs, which speaks volumes about the touring party's lack of intent in the ongoing series.

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Edited by Tanya Rudra