Already two down in the series, England suffered another heavy defeat in the third Test match, in Perth, despite appearing to have the better of the early exchanges in the match.
They won the toss and, having chosen to bat, compiled 403, largely thanks to Dawid Malan’s 140 and Jonny Bairstow’s 119. However, that was then put into context when it was Australia’s turn to bat, as they racked up 652/9 before declaring.
Steven Smith was the tormentor-in-chief for the English bowlers, with 239, while Mitchell Marsh made 181. The pair sharing a stand of 301 for the fifth wicket.
That meant England needed 249 just to make the home side bat again. Yet again, the batting failed and they were all out for 218, Josh Hazlewood taking 5-48. Australia had won by an innings and 41 runs.
At least England had the consolation of preventing the whitewash in the fourth Test match, at the MCG, Melbourne.
This time Australia won the toss and batted first, David Warner leading from the front with 103, while Smith and Shaun Marsh made 76 and 61 respectively out of a total of 327.
The English innings proved to be a personal triumph for Alastair Cook. His 244 not out was the highest Test score made by a visiting player at the venue, and the 11th score he had made in excess of 150, the most by any Englishman. Carrying his bat, he helped England reach 491.
When Australia batted again, Smith made an unbeaten 102 out of a total of 263/4 when they declared. However, with no time left in the game to contrive a result, the captains shook hands on the draw.
It was a familiar story for the English in the fifth Test match, in Sydney. They won the toss and batted. Despite Pat Cummins’s 4-80, they managed to reach 345, Root making 83 and Malan 62.
Australia then showed how it should be done by declaring on 649/7, with Usman Khawaja and the Marsh brothers, Shaun and Mitchell, all making centuries, while Smith made 83.
England’s largely miserable tour ended as they were bowled out for only second time round, Root’s 58 a sole act of defiance. Cummins took four more wickets as Australia won by an innings and 123 runs.
It meant that the home side had clinched the series by four matches to one.