Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust, Australia is 4-0 because England lost

Australia has ended the 2017-18 Ashes series in dominant fashion, pummeling the Poms by a innings and 123 runs at the SCG.

The Aussies’ total of 649 from their innings – helped along in particular by Usman Khawaja (171), Shaun Marsh (156) and Mitch Marsh (101) – proved too much for England to surmount even with two turns at the bat.

» Five talking points from the match

The visitors batted first when the Test began on Thursday and brought up a total of 346 from their first innings, respectable but without any knocks of real consequence outside of Joe Root’s 83 and Dawid Malan’s 62.

Pat Cummins was the man of the hour for Australia taking four wickets, including those of top order batsmen Mark Stoneman and James Vince, Starc taking the crucial wickets of Root and Malan.

Australia’s innings started poorly as Cam Bancroft was bowled for a seven-ball duck by Stuart Broad, but it proved not to be an omen of things to come, the rest of Australia’s top six all settling in for substantial stints at the crease.

Moeen Ali took two wickets – the only English bowler with more than one for the innings – but gave up 170 runs in doing so, while many Aussie fans found reason to slap their knees as English debutant Mason Crane recorded 1/193.

Australia declared with a lead of 303 runs and sent England back in to bat, and the visitors crumbled like wet cardboard.

Starc took Stoneman for a nine-ball duck and the Poms’ luck just got worse from there as Joe Root, seemingly their only batsman able to get anywhere near settled at the crease, was eventually forced to retire hurt on 58, struggling with a bout of gastro.

Moeen Ali was dismissed by Nathan Lyon for the seventh time out of nine innings in the series, and Pat Cummins proved to be England’s undoing, scuttling all of Broad, Crane and Jonny Bairstow.

The result brings a highly successful Ashes series for the Australians – with four wins, and a draw at the MCG – to an end, and the team looks primed for what will be an immense challenge when they travel to South Africa in March.