England win by an innings an 157 runs and retain the Ashes
And there you have it, England win by an innings an 157 runs and retain the Ashes. It's taken them less than an hour and a half, and it's their biggest win over Australia since Old Trafford in 1956 - emphatic, to say the least. Man-hugs and back-slaps all round on the field, the Barmy Army fill the 'G with noise! As the England team leave the field they're met by the coaches and technical staff, Andy Flower is there and congratulates each and every one of them.
This has been a thoroughly deserved win, England led the game from the moment the coin was tossed. They used the conditions perfectly to dismantle Australia in the first innings, surged ahead with the bat, and finished the job with more than a day and a half to spare. After setting the tone with the bat at Brisbane, they took the a lead in the series with an-innings-and-71-run win at Adelaide. It appeared there was life in Australia yet when an inspired Mitchell Johnson helped them bounce back at Perth, but England showed depth, determination and killer instinct to take this game by the scruff of the neck and keep hold of the urn.
"Is it time to throw out the bathwater, the baby and the rubber duck?" asks Peter. "Sack the selectors who have clearly failed to adequately prepare for this vital series." The Ashes are lost, but it's 2-1 and there's still a series at stake here, so perhaps now might not be the best time to ring the changes.
Andrew Strauss :-
"I hoped we would retain the Ashes here," says Andrew Strauss. "You know how much hard work is needed to win a series over here," he says to Athers, "a huge amount of credit has to go to Andy Flower and the backroom staff who got us prepared for this, and even more so to the guys out on the field who did what was asked of them. We've still got a series to win.
"What a great ground this is, and what an amazing place to come and retain the ashes at. This will live in my memory and in the memories of all the players. It's easy to get carried away with this win, but we still want to win the series even though we're going to be taking the urn home."
Ricky Ponting :-
"I'm not sure if you're better off getting flogged like we have been here or go down in a tight one," says losing captain Ricky Ponting. "Sometimes I think it can be more disappointing when it goes down to the wire, and we've been totally outplayed here. We've only got ourselves to blame, and we've got to give credit to England.
"It's really hard to work out why there's been such big momentum swings, not only in this Ashes series but in previous ones too. One team dominates and then the other one does. England executed their plans really well here, and we couldn't respond quickly enough or for long enough. I've got a lot of thinking to do [about my future]. I've tried my heart out, a lot of people have said I've even tried too hard. hopefully next week I'll prepare as well as possible and make two big scores to have an influence on the series.
Of his fractured finger, he says: "I don't know if the finger will be OK, it's been x-rayed but the specialist hasn't had a look yet. If there's no damage and it's like it was this week, I'll play. it's important we bounce back in Sydney and give the fans something to be proud of. We've got to prove to ourselves and the fans that we're still good cricketers."
The fortress has fallen and the era of Australian dominance has ended, but the series is not over yet, and Australia could yet begin 2011 on a positive note. Follow every ball of the Sydney Test, which begins on January 3.
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