England bask in Ashes glory

ENGLAND finished their triumphant Ashes series yesterday with a treasured piece of history in the bag – and a taste for more.

It had seemed a formality since the end of day three in the final Test at Sydney that they would wrap up their first series win in Australia for 24 years – and so it proved, aninnings-and-83-run and consequent 3-1 verdict confirmed just before noon on the last day.

Their success, as in many of those previous against an outplayed Australia this winter, came on the back of a mountain of runs from Alastair Cook and a supreme bowling collective – led by James Anderson.