England claimed a first Ashes series triumph in Australia in nearly a quarter of a century in the most emphatic style on Friday after wrapping up a third dominant innings victory in five tests.The tourists, who had already ensured they would retain the Ashes, needed a little more than 17 overs to remove Australia’s last three batsmen on day five of the final test to win the series 3-1 with an innings and 83-run victory.Free entry had ensured a 19,000 crowd watched the tourists perform the final rites and it was dominated by the red and white clad England fans of the Barmy Army, whose songs and chants echoed around the famous Sydney Cricket Ground.They celebrated wildly as England, just four years after suffering a first Ashes clean sweep in 86 years, matched the achievement of Mike Gatting’s touring party of 1986-87.The England players did a lap of honour after being awarded the crystal trophy that symbolises the tiny urn, deemed too fragile to travel the world.
“We can … be proud of what we’ve achieved because not many teams have come out here and won and certainly not many as emphatically as we did in the end,” said England captain Andrew Strauss.”So it’s going to be a dressing room full of pride and probably a bit of alcohol as well.”Australia have lost series by bigger margins but in more than 130 years of test cricket they had never conceded three defeats by an innings or more in a series against any country.Michael Clarke, whose own form in the series was patchy at best, could have asked for a better time to assume the captaincy, albeit temporarily, from the injured Ricky Ponting.The 29-year-old conceded his team had been outplayed “in every facet of the game” over the last two months, but did not think it was a time to panic.”I don’t think there’s a crisis in Australian cricket at all,” he said. “We need a lot of improvement in our game, in all areas. But I do believe we have the talent and potential in that change room to do it.”We’ve seen through this series that guys have stood up at different times, but we’re way too inconsistent to win a big series. That’s what England have shown as a team, they have outplayed us, not one or two individuals.”One individual who did make a difference was England opener Alastair Cook, who was named Man of the Match for the Sydney test and won the Compton-Miller medal as Man of the Series.Cook made 189 in Sydney and 766 runs at an average of 127.66 over the fives tests, the second highest by an Englishman in an Ashes series – Reuters
