Australia retain the urn after defeating England by 82 runs in third Test

“Baseball is officially dead,” former Australian opener Simon Katich said on SEN.

Asked if the result was truly the end for Bazball, Cummins pointed out that Ben Stokes’ team were tangled up in knots trying to find a way to compete here. In contrast, the supposedly aging and weakened Australian team managed to overcome numerous injury problems to remain consistent in its approach and prevail overall.

“Winning 3-0 was extremely satisfying for many reasons,” Cummins said. “But I think a lot of the conversation, especially before the series, was about how balanced the series was going to be. And, you know, winning in straight sets doesn’t get any better than that.”

“They seem to change their style a bit from game to game. I think that might happen in overseas conditions. You always try to fight for a method that works. The second day, I think, was surprising. It was 40-odd degrees, hot, a very flat wicket. And they closed up shop there for half the day, so I was pretty happy with that.”

“Who knows. I’m sure they’ll talk about it and come to us with different plans for Melbourne and Sydney. I’m glad we were able to stick to our guns and play the way we play best and it worked out.”

Cummins suggested the team’s ability to deal with adverse events, from his own back injury to the loss of Steve Smith with vestibular problems on the first morning of the Adelaide Test, has been a superpower this summer.

“I think that’s one of the things I’m most proud of about this group,” Cummins said. “No matter what cricket team I’m on, there’s always going to be something that goes wrong and that’s how you deal with it. And this group is really great. You just put your mind to it, what’s the job that needs to be done, and we’ll go and do it.”

“There was a big disruption with some players, I missed a few games, but Steve was able to step in immediately and everything was perfect. The other players that were on the sidelines could step in and be the game winners. I think it’s a big credit to Andrew McDonald, the coaching staff and the medical staff that we feel like we have a big squad that we can get support from.”

Another sign of the maturity of the team was that, despite England’s strong rearguard and the loss of Nathan Lyon with a hamstring injury, there was no panic or attempt to exaggerate the situation.

In England in 2023, Cummins had resorted to the odd bouncer scheme a little early, but here he backed his bowlers to create more conventional chances. It led to an 82-run margin of victory thanks to Labuschagne’s otherworldly catch.

“It crossed my mind, I had to remind myself that we had passed God’s Trial [in 2023]Even though Nathan wasn’t there,” Cummins said. “I think I said before this Test, I felt we managed our bowlers well so you know for me to come online and for Nathan Fresh to go to the back end of the series and I was thinking the same point.

“I was thinking that if things didn’t go well, a few of the bowlers might be offline. But fortunately it happened. I think it was a very calm group there. We have faced such situations before and you can’t overplay it. You can’t force it.”

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“In the past, we might have tried to create wickets out of thin air, but we felt we had enough runs. And just by being methodical. Make two or three in an over. And those wickets will present themselves. So yeah, I think there’s some learning that played out today.”

Unlike Labuschagne, Cummins was slightly less harsh on the final series margin.

“I will take 3-0,” he said. “I’ll take 3-2, the aim is to win the Ashes. You don’t go into a Test match not wanting to win, so we go to Melbourne and we’re absolutely desperate to win that and Sydney and if you get 5-0 that’s great. But yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s ever been talked about. It’s always been about how we can get our way with three wins.”