They jink ...

    

... it's all over!



Sydney, Fifth Test, Fourth Day:
Australia 393 & 46/0 (Hayden 23*, Langer 20*) beat England
291 & 147 (McGrath 3-38, Lee 3-39) by ten wickets;
Australia win the series 5-0 and reclaim the Ashes

England suffered the first Ashes whitewash for 86 years, and only the ninth 5-0 drubbing in Test history following their 250th Test defeat.

For Australia it was their twelfth Test win in a row - surpassing the 11 successive victories of the great West Indies side of the eighties and just four adrift of their own record run of 16 wins on the bounce at the turn of the millennium.

    

Glen McGrath, as so often in his Test career, led the Baggy Green to glory - snaring Kevin Pietersen to the third ball of the morning, knocking back Sajid Mahmood's off stump and wrapping up the innings by dismissing James Anderson - thwarting Shane Warne's bid to become the first cricketer to claim wickets with his first and last Ashes deliveries.

Mahmood's wicket was the 1,000th Test dismissal they've taken when playing together, McGrath ending up with 563 wickets, the most by a fast bowler, and Warne finishing up on 708 from 145 Tests - the most capped bowler and most successful wicket taker.

Cricket the world over will be all the poorer for their departure, of that there is no doubt.



The last rites were administered by Matthew Hayden and the other retiree Justin Langer - fittingly so since the two Australia openers were tottering about on the Oval outfield, hapless, helpless and faintly embarrassed when England won the Ashes that memorable September evening a mere 16 months ago ...

For highlights, stats and reaction to England's fourth 5-0 humiliation, check out Cricinfo and the BBC Sport websites.