2017 Ashes
Cricket - Australia v England - Ashes test match - WACA Ground, Perth, Australia, December 17, 2017 - Australia's Mitchell Starc celebrates after bowling England's James Vince during the fourth day of the third Ashes cricket test match. Reuters / David Gray

Australia are six English wickets away from a potential 3-0 series victory in the ongoing Ashes Test match series. The hosts had England reeling at 132/4 at stumps on the fourth day of the third Test at the WACA Ground in Perth.

England must score 127 runs to make Australia bat again with first-innings centurion Dawid Malan (28 not out) and wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow (14 not out) at the crease on stumps on Sunday. The visitors got a reprieve during the final session's play when rain interrupted Australian quick Mitchell Starc's spell. As a result, nearly 25 overs of play were lost on the fourth day.

After going to stumps Saturday with captain Steve Smith (239) and Mitchell Marsh (181) positioned to score triple and double centuries respectively, Australia lost three wickets in the span of five overs in the morning session before finishing at 662/9 decl. soon after the lunch interval. Wicketkeeper Tim Paine (49 not) and Pat Cummins (41) added 103 runs for the eighth wicket as Australia extended its lead beyond 250 runs.

2017 Ashes: Rain forecasted for fifth day

With rain forecasted for Monday, Australia are hoping to get at least two sessions to have a crack at getting six English wickets. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, arguably Australia's best bowler in the series, are drawing inspiration from retired paceman Mitchell Johnson's spells in the 2013-14 series.

“We’ve looked at (the forecast) a little bit. There’s just some rain tomorrow morning. Hopefully that doesn’t hang around too long and we can get the best part of two sessions in. Their tail feel very uncomfortable and we saw (first innings) they didn’t want to be out there and we’ll continue to use the same method that we have been. We saw with Mitch Johnson last (Ashes series) it just kept snowballing as the series went on. We’ll obviously continue to do that and hopefully have the same results.”

With a new multi-sport stadium in the works, the Perth Test could potentially be the last-ever Ashes Test at the iconic WACA ground. The 2017 Ashes series will move to the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the annual Boxing Day Test. The series will conclude at Sydney for the New Year's Test. Australia, the home team, could potentially reclaim the urn before the fourth Test at the MCG.

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