Australia’s Ashes campaign was left in tatters after a humiliating collapse handed England a series win at Chester-le-Street.
Set an intimidating 299 to win, the task was never going to be easy for the tourists.
But David Warner and Chris Rogers fought hard to hand Australia a dream start with a brilliant 109-run opening stand that cut the deficit to 190.
From there, the wheels fell off and Australia’s capitulation can only be described as an epic choke.
England had already retained the Ashes, but they won the series after recording an emphatic 74-run victory in the fourth Test.
Australia went from 0-109 after 29 overs to all out 224 off 68.3 overs.
Even after Rogers (49) and Warner (71) fell, Australia were well positioned at 2-168 with 131 left to win.
But after spinner Graeme Swann laid the groundwork, Tim Bresnan got the key wicket of Warner and then Stuart Broad (6-50) ripped the heart out of Australia, inspiring a landslide that included skipper Michael Clarke and yielded 5-13 in 54 minutes.
There was to be no tail-end heroics and Australia’s final eight wickets fell for 56 runs in under two hours.
A match that was set for a thrilling final day climax reminiscent of Trent Bridge, was over before it got dark on day four in Durham, leaving blood on the pitch.
England might have already retained the Ashes at Old Trafford, but there was a moral victory on offer for Australia in Durham.
Instead, their morale was steam rolled as they went 3-0 down with one Test still to play and Shane Watson nursing a groin and hip injury.
Australia have now gone winless in their last eight Tests – their dominant effort at Old Trafford counting for nothing. Should they fail to win at The Oval they will drop to fifth on the ICC rankings.
Watson and Brad Haddin were given out for line-ball lbw decisions for the sixth and seventh wicket, with both batsmen giving the umpires a spray as they walked from the field.
Australia used up their reviews and both came back umpire’s call.
Both clearly felt the benefit of the doubt hadn’t gone with them in the first instance.
However, England were already on a roll and the end seemed inevitable.
The damage was done once Alastair Cook brought about a double bowling change to replace a tired Swann (2-53) and a struggling James Anderson with Bresnan (2-36) and Broad in the 44th over.
Bresnan pitched up at a great length and Warner, sucked into the shot, edged behind.
It brought an end to an excellent innings which featured 10 fours and one six balanced out by great control.
But unfortunately it triggered an all-too-familiar collapse.
Michael Clarke (21) copped a jaffa from a fire-breathing Broad, and two overs later Steve Smith (2) inexplicably dragged a pull shot back onto his stumps.
Broad then trapped Haddin (4) and Ryan Harris (11) lbw, and bowled Nathan Lyon, his blitzkrieg of 6-20 in 43 balls securing 11 wickets for the match.
It was a bitter blow for Harris who earlier with the ball had taken career-best figures of 7-117 and nine for the match in a classy display.
England were bowled out for 330 led by an Ian Bell 113, but Australia were left to rue 79 runs put on by the last three wickets.
Australia’s batting was once again to blame – Rogers and Watson rescued them from a small total in the first innings and in the second dig it was only Watson and Rogers who showed any real resilience.
Usman Khawaja (21) was the second wicket to fall.
Khawaja was clueless against a full ball from Swann and trapped lbw, he fell victim to the England spinner for the fifth time in seven Ashes innings.
Red Kev
Guest
Hiring Arthur was the mistake, not firing him - that was just a correction that had to be made. Arthur did nothing with WA other than introduce a terrible culture to the side that sees the Marsh brothers constantly on the lash.
Ian
Guest
See my comment above.
Ian
Guest
You missed the point. The issue is not Lehamn, but neither was it Arthur. The point I was making is that sacking the previous coach was disgraceful because it didn't address the real issue, our lack of test class batsman. Lehman may be a good coach, as I believe Micky Arthur was, but he will have just as much difficulty as Arthur. Before Arthur, Nielsen was sacked for our batting woes. Putting Lehamn in place of Arthur, is the same as trying to cover over the cracks with paper. When the team continues to lose, mark my words, it will only be a matter of time before the public call for his head. Until we produce some quality batsman (Clarke excepted), we will continue to lose. Lehman will soon find out that people's patience will not last too long. When Lehman was appointed we were all told how great the vibe was, blah, blah, blah. However, the results prove that the issue was never morale, but lack of quality batsman. South Africa will murder us when we play them in South Africa.
Simoc
Guest
Congratulations to a far superior England side. There was great batting from Bell, and Rogers did well but Broad was the big difference this test with a couple of outstanding spells. We aren't really that close to the Poms. Only Clarke (and probably Harris) would be assured of a place in their team which is experienced and confident despite a few hiccups. Soon Cook and Trott will click into gear and Anderson may decide it's time to take wickets again. For Oz Rogers is in gear and has seen a bit of deserved luck as is Harris. It's good to see Warner getting runs at last.
James
Guest
it was bad but come on, australia have been doing this sort of thing for years. get a tiny 'sniff' one decent partnership then just fail, no fight whatsoever.
AlanKC
Guest
+1
AlanKC
Guest
Much empathy, that must have burned.
AlanKC
Guest
Absolutely agree. The not out from Aleem Dar against Bresnan goes against umpiring tradition where, if you shoulder arms, the bloody thing has to be missing by a mile to not be out, and should have been overturned by the third umpire. I'm not claiming it would have changed the result, it just annoys the heck out of me that a batsman got benefit of the doubt to that!!!
Jayvan Collins
Roar Pro
Wow... really? Barely two months with a high pressure series away from home. Placed in a position where he had no input into the squad, preparation or team activities for the tour, at short notice where he probably hadn't done much research on the team/players outside of his own personal interest. And you are calling for his head? or at the least putting the blame on him?
Jayvan Collins
Roar Pro
The women's team is all ready over there... and you will see that they are doing pretty well in their game against England currently.
Red Kev
Guest
Get your hand off it. Lehman has been with the side since two weeks before the Ashes started. How about you wait until (a) he gets input into selecting the squad; and (b) has some time to do some actual coaching. Trust Lehman to help this Australian side, look at the mediocre cricketers Queensland have compared to the stars of other states yet he was able to guide them to Shield, Ryobi and BBL titles. Anyone expecting instant results is seriously deluded.
Ian
Guest
And we thought a change of coach would solve our batting woes! This loss highlights the disgraceful decision to sack Micky Arthur. It's appalling that he was the scapegoat for our pathetic batsman. And the man who was so vocal in criticizing him over the "homework"" scandal (Darren Lehman), has no answers! It will only be a matter of time before people start calling for his head. The problem was never Micky Arthur and CA should be ashamed at the way they treated him.
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
Mr Sheen - Your comment made me laugh at loud! I've been quite nonplussed by the constant references to Durham, instead of Chester-le-Street. I suppose the confusion has arisen as the Riverside is home to County Durham, and the county also shares its name with the city, but it's akin to saying that Geelong is Melbourne etc.
Johnny Ball
Guest
I still think team spirit and cohesion are the missing factors in the Aussie side lowering the determination to operate as a complete unit. Get rid of Watson and Clarke and rebuild. Also give Sutherland a ticket out of town and bring in any of our previous captains to run Cricket Australia as they do understand team bonding and its importance to a side.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Agree Sydney, feel for the bowlers particuarly Harris, they by and large have done a good job this series although not getting rid of the England tail cheaply has proven costly. The middle order batting is as bad as I can ever remember, just brittle and no steel what so ever. The openers can do the job, what to do with the middle order ? Do we persist with the youngsters and hope they come good ? I don't see many alternatives.
JGK
Roar Guru
Whatever. As you can guess, I'm not in a good mood.
nickyc
Guest
Not sure they "gave" England's 8-9-10 79 runs. Their respective test averages are 30, 25 and 23 so it was just par for the course.
mr sheen
Guest
You'd have been better off at Chester-le-Street mate. Watching at Durham must have been frustrating, considering the cricket was being played a good few miles away.
Sydney Ump
Guest
Who would be a bowler in this team? Work your guts out to give the team a chance and the show ponies can't even understand how or why it is important to try just that little bit harder. Ryan Harris busted his guts for hours to rip the batting apart and then sits in the sheds while Khawaja who always looks terrified with that wrinckled brow, Smith who sometimes knows that it is not really a 20/20, Haddin much the same and then there is Watson who simply has lost the plot, conspire to give it all away. I can imagine the dressing room has a small area for those who try...Rogers, Siddle, Harris and sometimes Warner, while the rest of them play with their phones and Ipads and live the carefree life of players who are paid more than they are worth. Steve Waugh once led his NSW team out in a shield match against SA facing defeat and said "if there is anyone who doesn't believe we can win this then you can stay in the room" they all went out and won the game. This team needs a serious heart muscle replacement program.
JimmyB
Guest
Absolutely nothing "emphatic" about that victory at all. I'm surprised to hear so many Aussies on here denigrate their team for choking or lacking ticker, I would suggest that they showed plenty of ticker and that's something to be proud of andvto build on. I suspect that being unhappy about losing has manifested itself in questioning all sorts of things about the players and their perceived problems. Aussies your team did you proud, admittedly in defeat, but proud none the less. They need your support.