PERTH, Australia – Australia reclaimed the coveted urn from England on Monday after the fifth day of the third Ashes test at the WACA stadium in Perth.

Australia defeated the visitors by an innings and 41 runs, taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

“Captaining an Ashes-winning side is an amazing feeling (...) It’s a moment that we have been looking forward to for a long time,” Australian captain Steve Smith said after the match.

Rain washed out the entire first session of play, and England’s first innings heroes, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow, walked out after lunch with the score reading 132/4, still needing 127 runs to make the hosts bat again.

Josh Hazlewood removed Bairstow in his first ball of the day with one that kept low and uprooted the stumps, and then later accounted for Malan and Overton, which took his wicket count to five, while Nathan Lyon snared a defensive Moeen Ali LBW for 11 off 66 deliveries.

Pat Cummins was relentless with his raw pace, bouncing out the English tail as he got Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad nicking behind to the keeper, wrapping up the match just before tea.

“The bowlers have done exceptional work throughout the series,” Smith said.

The England team was bowled out for 218 in the second innings, marking the fourth time they lost by an innings after having scored above 400 runs in the first innings.

“They’ve outplayed us in all three games and we’ve got to be better (...). The way those guys (Malan and Bairstow) put in huge performances was outstanding (...) we got to make sure we go to Melbourne and put in good performance there (in the fourth test),” English captain Joe Root said post-match.

“I’m so proud of the boys, the way we’ve been able to wrap things up here in Perth and get that urn back,” said Smith, who received the Man of the Match award for his career-best score of 239.

“The Boxing Day Test match (at Melbourne) is an amazing occasion, hopefully we can get ourselves 4-0 and maybe 5-0 in Sydney,” he added.