Agony and ecstasy: Captains Pat Cummins and Ben Stokes react to Ashes decider

The hosts took their time, but eventually bowled out a stoic England to win the third Ashes Test by 82 runs on Sunday in Adelaide. Centuries from Alex Carey and Travis Head buoyed Australia, while an all-round performance from the bowling unit got them over the line in the third session of Day 5.

For Cummins, he has been working hard at injury rehabilitation off the field and had his first Ashes outing this week. He scooped six wickets in the match.

"Wasn't easy today, but got it done," said the seamer directly after the match.

"Exciting changing room. The last two months have been a bit of a grind, but all worth it for days like this. That's when we are at our best, you can't really rush things in Australia, it's good old-fashioned grind, and love the toil from all the guys. Got a bit closer than we'd have liked.

"First of all, you need more than 11 players in an Ashes. Three Tests in, we've shown that. It's focusing on what we do well as bowlers, not getting carried away by the opposition. There's always things that crop up and the boys crack on and say what's next. Packed crowds, all five days, to see two homegrown heroes was awesome."

At the other end of the spectrum is Stokes. His England charges were hyped up before the series, making it all the more crushing to go down 3-0 in just 11 days of Ashes cricket.

"That dream is now over, which is incredibly disappointing," quipped Stokes.

"Everyone is hurting and quite emotional about it. It hurt, it sucks, but we aint going to stop. Australia have just been able to execute things more consistently than us. We've shown it in passages. Thought we were on for another heist when Jamie and Will were going. Losing the toss, bowling, keep Australia to under-par score and not being able to respond with the bat when we had an opportunity to put a big score on the board.. We were confident we had a good chance of chasing it down, it was a very good wicket. Losing those three wickets at the backend of yesterday set us back.

"That stuff I wanted to see, I've seen that this week. Think we can take a lot from this game. We've got so much more to play for."

And it's a short turnaround for the battered English. The fourth Ashes test gets underway in Melbourne on Friday 26 December.