England’s disastrous Ashes tour ended on a low note once more as Australia won the fifth Test to complete a dominant 4-1 series victory.
Australia won the finale at the SCG in Sydney by five wickets during the afternoon session of the fifth day.
Going into Thursday’s play, England knew they needed Jacob Bethell to repeat his century heroics 24 hours earlier.
However, resuming on 142 not out – and England 302-8 – Bethell was only able to add 12 more runs before succumbing to the bowling brilliance of Mitchell Starc.
Bethell was given a warm applause around the SCG as he left the field with England 328-9 – having surpassed a maiden first-class 150.
His departure left Matthew Potts at the crease with Josh Tongue and the pair put on a further 12 runs before Tongue was caught by Marnus Labuschagne off Starc’s bowling.
The left-arm quick collected his 31st wicket of the series with that – such as his dominance been as he was later named Player of the Series.
Australia set low target of 160 to win fifth Ashes Test
Australia were set a target of 160 to win and at lunch they were almost halfway there on 71-2 – with Tongue removing series top-scorer Travis Head for 29 and bouncing out Jake Weatherald for 34 just before the interval.
Weatherald’s time at the crease caused controversy and saw tempers flare when England were adamant he should have been given out earlier.
With Australia 33-0, the tourists appealed for the opener’s dismissal when bowler Brydon Carse beat him on the outside edge.
The much-derided Snicko technology appeared to back them up but, after a long look, TV umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruled against them.
Carse was furious, approaching umpire Ahsan Raza to vent his frustration and touching the official on the shoulder before being moved on by injured captain Ben Stokes, who sought his own explanation. Carse continued arguing the case with Weatherald at the end of the over, with nine weeks of tension spilling over.
After lunch, Will Jacks removed Steve Smith for 12 with a ripper in a mixed spell to leave Australia 92-3.
That soon became 119-4 when Usman Khawaja, on his final Test, dragged on to his stumps for just six. It came off the bowling of Tongue, who like Bethell, can leave Australia with some English credit to his name.
Matthew Potts, completely frozen out of the attack after his first-innings horror show, found his own way of getting involved by running out Labuschagne to make it 121-5.
That’s as good as it got for England though as Cameron Green and Alex Carey saw Australia home – with the latter scoring the winning runs to complete their series dominance – having won the urn inside just 11 days of cricket following the end of the third Test.
