Friday, 09 January 2026
Friday, 09 January 2026
Australia had a few nervous moments but safely chased down their 160-run victory target before tea on the final day of the fifth Ashes test against England on Thursday for a five-wicket victory and a 4-1 series triumph.
Seamer Josh Tongue led England's battling rearguard with 3-42 but Alex Carey got Australia across the line with a four through the covers in mid-afternoon in the company of Cameron Green.
"We've played so well as a team," said Steve Smith, who was standing in for Pat Cummins as Australia captain for the fourth time in the series.
"We've had some incredible individual performances but ... everyone else just stood up at different moments. I think that's what makes a really good team. We won those big moments throughout the series."
England will take credit for making a game of it and not being ground into the Sydney dirt as previous tourists have in end-of-series dead rubbers at the famous old ground.
Without the bowling of injured captain Ben Stokes, however, defending 160 was always going to be an uphill challenge on a good wicket which allowed day-five action for the second time in the series.
Australia's openers managed to get the target under 100 runs before Man of the Match Travis Head, whose third century of the series underpinned his team's first-innings 567, ballooned a shot to midwicket off Tongue for 29.
Jake Weatherald followed for 34, again caught off Tongue's bowling, to bring up lunch with Australia 89 runs from their goal.
It was 15 years and a day since England won the final test of the 2010-11 series at the same ground by an innings and 83 runs -- the last time they won an Ashes series Down Under.
Khawaja made his debut in that match and got his chance for one final innings before retirement when Smith was bowled through the gate by the spin of Will Jacks for 12 soon after lunch.
The England players formed a cordon to welcome Khawaja to the crease but Tongue's bowling was less friendly and the lefthander played on for six after facing seven balls.
"I was trying to act cool, but the whole test match I found it really hard to control my emotions," the 39-year-old admitted.
Labuschagne had been dropped on 20 off Tongue when Bethell failed to hold onto the ball despite an acrobatic leap at backward point.
He was unable to make the most of his reprieve, however, running himself out for 37 with 39 runs still required for victory.
Carey, who made 16 not out, and Green, who finished unbeaten on 22, nearly reprised Labuschagne's exit with a classic mix-up after an overthrow but eventually made their ground to secure the victory.
England had resumed on 302-8 but Mitchell Starc struck a major blow to their hopes of setting Australia a testing target when he had Bethell caught behind for 154.
Bethell's superb maiden test century offered plenty of promise for the future and was essentially the difference between an innings defeat for England and Australia batting again.
Starc (3-72) returned to remove Tongue for six to end the innings on 342, the left-arm quick later awarded Player of the Series honours for his tally of 31 wickets over the five tests.
"The body is still holding together and this is a great group to be a part of," the 35-year-old said. "I am a little tired but got the job done."
Despite England's woes, the Ashes remain as popular as ever with the 211,032 fans through the gates over the five days in Sydney, the most ever for a test match at the ground.
Australia's squad mentality enabled them to trounce England 4-1 in the Ashes despite being without a handful of top players, Player of the Series Mitchell Starc said after the fifth test victory on Thursday.
Starc, who took 31 wickets, was the only one of the quartet of bowlers that have kept Australia at the top of the game for a decade to play all five tests.
Regular captain Pat Cummins played just one as he battled a back problem, spinner Nathan Lyon managed two before being sidelined by a hamstring problem and Josh Hazlewood was ruled out before the series started.
Added to that, Australia needed an emergency opener in the series opener in Perth when Usman Khawaja suffered back spasms and was unable to bat in the second innings.
Travis Head took up the role and kept it for the remainder of the series, notching three such influential centuries that he was unlucky to miss out to Starc for Player of the Series honours.
After stand-in skipper Steve Smith had paid tribute to Starc's "incredible" performances in the post-match press conference, the 35-year-old returned the compliment.
"Okay, Pat wasn't there, but we have someone who's captained the team so much in the past, has a great cricket brain. It was business as usual," Starc said.
"I think Steve's captained phenomenally well through the series, was ahead of the game, ahead of England for a lot of it.
"And then, whether it be the different batters, different Trav opening, different bowling setups, we knew as a group that we had the guys that could fill different roles and be adaptable in different situations."
Starc said that was not a recent development and that the team had been fully confident the likes of fast bowlers Scott Boland and Michael Neser would come in and play their part.
"I think it's been a feature as well over the years," said the left-arm paceman.
"It's not just about having a settled 11. It's very much a squad mentality.
"Whether it's Scotty playing five (tests) and doing his role so well, Neser coming in and having his first crack at red-ball cricket and probably having his best series for Australia of his career.
"They're those little moments as a squad that I think have got us across the line to four wins this series."
Both Starc and Smith, who is 36, said they were not looking too far ahead but would not rule out still being around to tour India as well as England in 2027.
"I think this group has shown that, whilst there's so much made about our age profile, I think at times through this series, that experience has been a really good thing in some moments in this series," said Starc.
"And I think we've seen guys prove that if you're still playing your role, or if you're still good enough, it shouldn't matter how old you are.
"If we both get to go on those tours in '27 it'd be lovely to tick them off, but we've got plenty of cricket before then.”
"It's a tough one to take knowing that we can play better than that," said Stokes, who exhorted his players from the slips on Thursday.
"But I've got to give full credit to (Australia), they've been just incredible for five test matches."
In Sydney, Australia were again that bit superior in every department, as they were when wins in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide secured possession of the Ashes urn for another 18 months in just 11 days.
England won a lottery of a fourth test in Melbourne -- their first win in Australia since Sydney in 2011 -- but the future of the "Bazball" style of play must be in doubt after a tour that started with high hopes ended in a 4-1 loss.
"We've not won the big series that we want to be winning," said Stokes.
"When a trend is happening on a consistent basis ... that's when you do need to go back and look at the drawing board and make some adjustments."
Stokes said he wants to carry on as England captain and has backed coach Brendon McCullum despite the loss.
Critics have pointed the finger at the high-risk "Bazball" approach to the game along with questions about the levels of preparation for the tour, which saw England quickly fall to an insurmountable 3-0 deficit.
The 34-year-old all-rounder, though, said he wanted to remain skipper for the upcoming home test series against New Zealand and Pakistan.
"(I’m) definitely, keen as anything to carry on," he told reporters.
"I love having a challenge thrown at me and at the moment the challenge is getting the team back to where we once were in terms of the performances that we were delivering."
Asked about McCullum's position, Stokes gave his full backing to the New Zealander, who has a contract until after the 2027 home series against the Australians and said he expected him to remain in his role.
"I do expect him to be (in charge) but again it's not my decision," he said. "I'm sure if it ever ... comes to it, I'll be asked my opinion and he'll be getting my full support and backing.
"I absolutely love working with Baz. He's a great man and he's a very, very good coach. You know there's more that goes on behind the scenes than he'll ever give away and than he'll ever let out."
Critics, such as former England captain Michael Vaughan, have said that McCullum will need to accept that his approach has failed and agree to a different style for the team.
When asked about being given such instruction from his bosses at the ECB, the coach was far from welcoming of the idea.
"I am not against assistance but have a firm belief in how to get the best out of these players," McCullum told the BBC.
"I will look at it individually and say, 'what could I have done better?' Am I for being told what to do? Of course I am not. But at the same time I'm not thinking there won't be areas to improve."
Stokes appeared sympathetic to McCullum's stance.
"Me and Brendon, we know how to run a dressing room, we know how to try and give the lads the best possible chance of being as good as they can be," he added.
"Everyone's got an opinion how things should be run and kind of stuff like that. So it is always tough. But I would never try to tell someone who runs a huge business what they should do because I haven't got any expertise in that whatsoever."
While quick to back his coach, Stokes was frank in his assessment of England’s recent form, which includes a drawn series at home to India, suggesting opponents might have worked out ‘Bazball’.
"I think that we are now playing against teams who have answers to the style of cricket that we have been playing over quite a long period of time now," he said.
"I think in the first couple of years, teams found it difficult to try and come up with anything to come to combat the way that we played but now teams are I think coming up with plans that (are) standing up to a certain style of cricket that we want to play.
"When you come up against a team like Australia out here, who know how to play cricket out here and you are adding to your own downfall then you're going to end up losing the series 4-1 like we have done."
Stokes accepted that England need to rethink their approach in order to win the big series.
"When a trend is happening on a consistent basis ... that's when you do need to go back and look at the drawing board and make some adjustments," he added.
