ENGLAND finished their miserable Ashes tour on a victorious note with a 225-run thrashing of Australia to prevent a historic 5-0 series whitewash in the final test yesterday.

Mark Butcher marked his 50th Test for England with a determined century today after he battled through an uncertain start to his innings in the final Test against a new look Australian line-up at the SCG.

MICHAEL VAUGHAN benefited from the hard nosed approach of modern cricket to continue his prolific year for England and provide Australian audiences with evidence of real competition during the remainder of the Ashes series.