The tourists won by an innings and 71 runs, completing their deserved triumph an hour before lunch on the final day.
Australia were bowled out for 304 in their second innings, with England spinner Graeme Swann taking five wickets.
Australia suffered their first defeat by an innings in an Ashes Test for 24 years to hand England a 1-0 lead in the series on the final day at Adelaide Oval.
Resuming at 4-238, still 137 runs behind, Ricky Ponting’s men lost their final seven wickets for 66 to lose by an innings and 71 runs and place them in very real danger of becoming the first Australian team to surrender the Ashes at home before Christmas.
England will retain the urn if they win the third Test in Perth from December 16.
Meanwhile, Cricket Australia physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said of Simon Katich’s injury:
“Simon Katich has struggled through the second Test match with an achilles tendon injury that became increasingly painful during the fielding innings.
“Achilles tendinopathy can be a complex injury and based on Simon’s current symptoms and results of a scan undertaken last night, it is unlikely that he will be available to play any further part in this Ashes Series.
“I believe that with a thorough rehabilitation program Simon will be able to return to cricket some time in the new year.”
Snapshot of day five of the second cricket Test between Australia and England at Adelaide Oval:
SCORE – England 5(dec)-620 bt Australia 245 and 304.
MAN OF THE MOMENT – Graeme Swann. The England offspinner bowled his nation to a decisive triumph by taking five wickets in Australia’s second innings.
KEY MOMENT – Australia’s hopes of a miracle survival went down the gurgler when Mike Hussey launched at a pull shot and popped the ball to mid-on to be caught got 52.
STAT OF THE DAY – An innings and 71 runs. The crushing margin of England’s deserved victory.
Score board at the end of the second Test between Australia and England at Adelaide Oval today.
Australia 1st Innings Mins Balls 4s 6s
S WATSON c Pietersen b Anderson 51 130 94 7 1
S KATICH run out (Trott) 0 2 0 0 0
R PONTING c Swann b Anderson 0 1 1 0 0
M CLARKE c Swann b Anderson 2 7 6 0 0
M HUSSEY c Collingwood b Swann 93 300 183 8 0
M NORTH c Prior b Finn 26 99 93 4 0
B HADDIN c Finn b Broad 56 145 95 2 1
R HARRIS lbw Swann 0 1 1 0 0
X DOHERTY run out (Strauss) 6 25 19 1 0
P SIDDLE c Cook b Anderson 3 23 21 0 0
D BOLLINGER not out 0 7 3 0 0
Sundries (6lb 1w 1nb) 8
Total 245
Fall: 0 (Katich), 0 (Ponting), 2 (Clarke), 96 (Watson), 156 (North), 207 (Hussey), 207 (Harris), 226 (Doherty), 243 (Siddle), 245 (Haddin).
Bowling: J Anderson 19-4-51-4, S Broad 18.5-6-39-1, S Finn 16-1-71-1 (1w 1nb), G Swann 29-2-70-2, P Collingwood 3-0-8-0.
Batting time: 377 mins. Overs: 85.5.
England 1st Innings Mins Balls 4s 6s
A STRAUSS b Bollinger 1 34 3 0 0
A COOK c Haddin b Harris 148 434 269 18 0
J TROTT c Clarke b Harris 78 202 144 11 0
K PIETERSEN c Katich b Doherty 227 402 308 33 1
P COLLINGWOOD lbw Watson 42 85 70 5 0
I BELL not out 68 145 97 8 1
M PRIOR not out 27 24 21 2 0
Sundries (8b 13lb 8w) 29
Five wickets (dec) for 620
Fall: 3 (Strauss), 176 (Trott), 351 (Cook), 452 (Collingwood), 568 (Pietersen).
Bowling: R Harris 29-5-84-2 (1w), D Bollinger 29-1-130-1 (2w/6), P Siddle 30-3-121-0 (1w), S Watson 19-7-44-1, X Doherty 27-3-158-1, M North 18-0-62-0.
Batting time: 666 mins. Overs: 152.
Australia 2nd Innings Mins Balls 4s 6s
S WATSON c Strauss b Finn 57 174 141 10 0
S KATICH c Prior b Swann 43 108 85 6 0
R PONTING c Collingwood b Swann 9 21 19 2 0
M CLARKE c Cook b Pietersen 80 170 139 11 0
M HUSSEY c Anderson b Finn 52 154 107 5 1
M NORTH lbw Swann 22 56 35 3 0
B HADDIN c Prior b Anderson 12 24 21 2 0
R HARRIS lbw Anderson 0 1 1 0 0
X DOHERTY b Swann 5 17 9 1 0
P SIDDLE not out 6 28 21 1 0
D BOLLINGER not out 7 14 16 1 0
Sundries (5b 1lb 5w) 11
Nine wickets for 304
Fall: 84 (Katich), 98 (Ponting), 134 (Watson), 238 (Clarke), 261 (Hussey), 286 (Haddin), 286 (Harris), 286 (North), 295 (Doherty).
Bowling: J Anderson 22-4-92-2, S Broad 11-3-32-0, G Swann 41-12-91-4, S Finn 18-2-60-2 (1w/5), P Collingwood 4-0-13-0, K Pietersen 3-0-10-1.
Batting time: 392 mins. Overs: 99.
Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL), Marais Erasmus (RSA).
Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL).
Third Umpire: Billy Doctrove (WIN).
Result: England won by an innings and 71 runs
Series: England lead the five test series 1-0
Hutchoman
Roar Pro
James, Please read what I actually wrote. The Shield is not what is was BECAUSE the Test players aren't playing it.
Fisher Price
Guest
How about Voges and Pomersbach too?
Fisher Price
Guest
Nielsen out.
Fisher Price
Guest
Don't forget Cockley, Lee and Bracken.
Fisher Price
Guest
Yep.
Fisher Price
Guest
Spot on. It's all about 'the group'.
Wylie
Guest
Agree - why do cricket coaches escape the scrutiny they get in other sports? I say bring in Ric Charlesworth.
Republican
Guest
Tui We reserve the underarm for NZ due to their Francophone cricket cred and to save them the humiliation and embarrassment of facing anything remotely resembling an overarm - you should know that.
Lancashire
Roar Rookie
From an English viewpoint, if you think it's bad now, look forward ... how many of the current Australian team will be GUARANTEED picks in two years? Clarke. Maybe Watson, if you keep picking an opener who gets out when set. Anyone else? No. Now look at the English team, same question could feasibly give you Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Finn, and you could make an argument for Strauss and Prior. That leaves Collingwood as the only definite change, largely down to age. Therein lies your problem going forward. Coming back to the here and now, you're crazy if you think an Ashes series is a good time to blood newbies, so you need to bring experienced (Test) players in to replace Katich, Doherty (why was he ever picked?) and maybe one of the other bowlers. So who've you got? Openers? Quicks? Spinners? Either youngsters who've not played any/many Tests, or failures, or ageing players who've never been good enough in the past, so why now. The failure to my mind lies with a lack of succession planning, players (particularly batsmen) haven't been blooded in the last two years. England got lucky in 2009 with Trott in the last Test, can Australia do the same?
Timnaik
Guest
Good point Ringo. Come off it Lazza!
Colin N
Guest
Agreed. It always gets back page coverage in the summer when it's in England and is very much talked about on TV, the radio and in the papers now. You'll also see the top story on the BBC is the Ashes and has been everyday of a test match. It's disappointing it's only live on Sky (money reasons), but it doesn't disperse the coverage it receives in the news mediums.
JonnyP
Guest
I really don't think your point is particularly valid Lazza. Cricket is very popular over here and England always have a good following both home and abroad. The Ashes start (first ball bowled) at midnight and are only on Sky (pay TV) so are would say those figures you quote are good.The Ashes is getting plenty of coverage, as it always does.
Ringo Parsons
Guest
This forum reads like the English media for most of the last 20 odd years, no country at any sport stays at the top forever the more you beat your team up the better for us, it seems obvious to an outsider you do not have on the showings so far 1 decent bowler with the exception of the North your batting line up is ok, the only bowler I have seen on TV here who looks the part bar a half a dozen over spell by Siddle is Mark Cameron. As for sporting rivals The Ashes is right up there in this country not as much as in Oz and certainly no comparison with Football here but nether the less very important as for football.
Ringo Parsons
Guest
Lazza Mate get a grip unless you are outstandingly thick you will know that the tests are on during the night here, 400k watching a test match during the night is decent and believe me most of the England is celebrating today.
Nambucco Deliria
Guest
Maybe three matches a year get 30 million viewers. Test matches in England are routinely sold out months in advance, whereas in India I see vast swathes of empty seats at Test Matches. We'll keep things the way they are thank you.
Damien
Guest
I agree. The culture of the team is wrong. There is a real air of arrogance, yet they have no right to it, their performances just don't stack up. It's time to get some young cricketers in who are prepared to do the hard yards to improve themselves. Then maybe Australia may start to improve.
Oracle
Guest
Unfortunately McDonald is injured, and so is Paine, as could have played Haddin as a no6 batsman, and McDonald instead of a "spinner". Read an article by Jim Maxwell on ABC website, and he offered up the following players, Khawaja, Cameron, Hauritz,Smith. As usual with Jim Maxwell, he can't see past the NSW border. Yesterday Roebuck mentioned Andrew McDonald's brilliant season with both bat and ball, and also Cameron White at number 6. Maxwell didn't even acknowledge it, just started rabbiting on about Mark Cameron and Hauritz. I love listening to Kerry O'Keeffe , but when him and Maxwell start showing their NSW bias, I have to turn it off. Pietersen was fantastic this match.
Junior
Guest
thank you for clarifying. pigs aren't flying and the sky is not caving in. the world is a much happier place.
Damien
Guest
Truth is that this Ashes series is lost. No changes that are made will swing the momentum from England to Australia. I can't even be bothered making replacements for this series, because the selectors simply will not. Katich will most likely be replaced by Hughes and Bollinger perhaps by Hilfenhaus. It's time to think about the longer term. The most talented young cricketers need to be selected from the end of the Ashes series onwards. The rest of this Ashes series should be about seeing who ought to be allowed to continue. It seems to me that unless Ponting makes runs its out the door for him and time to give Clarke the captaincy. I have no reservations about this - unlike Ponting, Clarke is not stubborn and will try different ideas, and doesn't adopt an air of arrogance that frankly the Australian team can no longer legitimately claim the right to. Hussey has shown that he could be a vital leader for an emerging team - he should stay for the next year or two. North - well he's a joke. Cannot stay. For the future I would see the team as looking like this: Wes Robinson Phil Hughes/Shane Watson Usman Khawaja Michael Clarke (c) Michael Hussey Shane Watson/Steve Smith Brad Haddin Ryan Harris Ben Hilfenhaus/Doug Bollinger Xavier Doherty/Steve O'Keefe Mitchell Starc I've put Wes Robinson in, not really knowing anything about him, other than that we need a steady hand at the top of the order and apparently he is. He's not young, so I would in the longer term like to see Phil Hughes or Shaun Marsh there. The Watson/Hughes/Smith decision is the critical one. Watson has to play, it's just a matter of where. I would prefer to see Smith in the team, rather than Hughes, but it's line ball. Bring in some youth in the bowling - it's working with Finn for England, so I don't see why we shouldn't start training up Starc. Doherty's had a hard time of it. If the situation was different - i.e. he had substantial amount of runs to play with because our batsmen could actually score some runs, then I think he may have performed differently. Overall, I actually put our failure at the moment down to the leadership of Ponting, and the poor batting. The English are so unstoppable against our bowlers in part because they know their bowlers are dealing with Australia's batting so easily.
M1tch
Roar Guru
Jaques is an interesting one..scored a 100 in his last innings i think..he hasnt been mentioned for 2 years or so..even after he came back from injury, nor even during his injury his fielding probably lets him down