England were left to rue their inability to 'seize the moment' as they surrended their Ashes challenge in 11 days' play, so what were those series-defining key moments?
The key moments that turned Ashes in Aussies' favour
With the Ashes series decided before Christmas, the Bazball autopsy is certain to be thorough.
Were England deficient technically? Tactically? Mentally? Or perhaps all of the above?
Well, according to the England leadership, a larger factor than both the batters' shot selection or bowlers' lines and lengths was their side's inability to "seize the key moments".
What makes a moment? It's a subjective term, but it's effectively a passage of play that could last a full session or a single ball. They're the mini-battles and periods of time that determine the outcome of the match.
Captain Ben Stokes said after the loss in Brisbane, "We've all been guilty of it so far in this tour, the moments where we have let the pressure and the occasion, the circumstance, get to us and our decision-making ability."
Before the Adelaide Test, coach Brendon McCullum backed his team's method but lamented their execution.
"We came here with high hopes and high expectations," McCullum said. "We had a plan that we felt was going to be successful.
"We haven't quite executed that so far. Australia have seized those key moments."
The Australian side were criticised before the series for being too old. They had two 38-year-olds in their starting XI and only one player, Cameron Green, younger than 30.
But captain Pat Cummins credited his side's ability to capitalise at important stages to the fact they'd "seen most situations before".
"We speak about experience quite a bit," Cummins said after his side had sealed the victory in Adelaide.
"That's one of the benefits of experienced players, you feel like you've seen most situations before and you can navigate your way through it, particularly here in Australia.
"That's really been one of the hallmarks of our team over the last few years.
"We haven't been perfect, but we've found a way to scrap out a win when we needed to, particularly here in Adelaide, (where) it's quite attritional cricket."
Let's cast our mind back across the 11 days of the series and pinpoint the moments where Australia came out on top in the key battles.
Boland's brilliance flips Perth script
Perth, day two, second session
After a frenetic opening day of the series where 19 wickets fell, it appeared some normality was going to return on after a relatively sedate morning session on day two.
Australia were knocked off 40 runs short of England's first innings 172 before Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope built England a strong lead for the tourists despite Zak Crawley's second duck of the match. At lunch, England were 1-59 and ahead by 99.
An extra session of solid batting, or even an hour from the set duo, would have put England in an near-insurmountable position, especially given the Aussies had laboured to 132 all out in 45.2 overs a short time earlier.
Stand-in captain Steve Smith chose not to start with his spearhead Mitch Starc, instead bowling Cameron Green and Scott Boland at the start of the important stanza. And it was Boland, who responded to a poor start to the Test with a series-shifting spell. Boland picked up the wickets of Duckett, Pope and then Harry Brook in 11 balls of madness, with Duckett undone by a good one but loose shots from the latter pair offering Australia a way back into the contest. The hosts didn't miss their chance.
Starc returned to immediately dismiss Joe Root, who chopped on, and also snared Ben Stokes for the 11th time in Tests to leave England reeling at 6-95. Any advantage the visitors had was wiped off in under an hour.
Head tees off as England miss the mark
Peth, day two, third session
The previous five sessions had produced an eye-watering 30 wickets at an average of 15.60. So, Australia's target of 205 should have been far from straightforward.
Australia had another new opening combination, with Usman Khawaja's back spasms again preventing him from opening with debutant Jake Weatherald. While Marnus Labuschagne filled the void at short notice in the first dig, Travis Head had put his hand up to do the job in the second.
Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson started tidily as Australia crept their way to 0-7 after four overs. But, they couldn't contain the Aussie pair any longer. But openers profited from width outside off and half-volleys on the stumps.
Australia piled on 64 runs in the next seven overs and in the blink of an eye had wiped off a third of the target under a dozen overs.
Brydon Carse's first two overs went for 22 runs. Mark Wood's first two went for 19.
With the pressure valve released, even Weatherald's wicket couldn't halt the hosts. Head had raced to 49 from 35 balls and had many more to get.
Gabba Tests slips through England's grasp
Brisbane, day two, third session
Joe Root's maiden century in Australia helped England post a competitive 334 after batting first in the day-night Test. Although Australia had worked their way to 3-228 at the dinner break on day two, the night session loomed as the most bowler friendly. A day earlier, England had lost 5-54 during the floodlit session and would have been backing their bowlers to do the same to the hosts.
After Brydon Carse bluffed and then bowled Cameron Green, the door was slightly ajar for England at 4-290. Seeking two wickets in two balls, Carse surprised Carey with some steep bounce. Running in from gully, Ben Duckett got both his hands to the looping ball but it spilled out as he slid along the ground.
Never mind, there's still another 16 left in the day's play. And to his credit, Will Jacks took a stunning catch a short while later to dismiss the dangerous Steve Smith.
But that would be the tourists' final highlight of the night.
In the 64th over, Duckett was again in the spotlight by dropping a tough chance to his right in gully off the flashing blade of Josh Inglis.
Five overs later, Carse dropped a sitter at cover to give Michael Neser a life.
And when Joe Root barely got a hand to a chance that zipped between him at first slip and wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, England hopes had evaporated.
In the space of an hour, England had spilled four catches during the best period to bowl. After making it to stumps at six down, Australia built a 167-run lead the following day to bat the English out of the match.
England's calamitous final session misses
56.2 – Duckett drops Carey – AUS 4-291
63.2 – Duckett drops Inglis – 5-327
68.3 – Carse drops Neser – 6-346
69.2 – Root drops Carey – 6-352
Starc crushes Stokes' hopes
Adelaide, day three, first session
Ben Stokes knew it was a huge moment and his instinctive reaction illustrated that. He and Jofra Archer had combined for the third-largest stand of the series, clawing England back from the brink of failing to pass the follow-on mark to potentially restoring parity.
After taking 159 balls to reach his half-century, the slowest of his career, Stokes had moved to 83 and looked largely untroubled as the deficit dropped below 100. Then, Mitch Starc got access to the second new ball. Having made it through the first half of the session without losing a wicket, Stokes and Archer would have had their side close to level with another 45 minutes of batting. But Starc set the trap and finally Stokes made a mistake. With two fielders on the off-side boundary, and no one saving a single between mid off and gully, the plan was to encourage the England skipper to push square of the wicket for an easy run. Starc's wobble seam delivery jagged back through the created gate of Stokes and clattered into the stumps.
Stokes, unable to contain his disappointment, bounced up and down on the spot before releasing a furious roar. England's best chance to keep the Ashes series alive had been snuffed out.
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men's Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Third Test: Australia won by 82 runs
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (third Test only): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue