Alastair Cook helps to roast Aussies as England take a 2-1 Ashes lead

Captain Alastair Cook set his sights on regaining the Ashes at Trent Bridge after England brushed aside Australia inside three days to take a 2-1 series lead.

The home side wrapped up a memorable eight-wicket victory in front of a febrile Edgbaston crowd, with seven sessions of the match remaining.

Ian Bell led the way, his unbeaten 65 seeing England past their 121-run target and completing a remarkable turnaround following Australia’s crushing win at Lord’s.

A repeat performance in Nottingham — hardly a given with England’s recent habit of following up victories with defeats — would see Cook get his hands on the urn and banish memories of the 2013-14 whitewash down under.

“We’ve had a really good three days here, we’ll enjoy the night as a group and come tomorrow, maybe with a little bit of a dusty head, we’ll look forward to Trent Bridge,” he said.

“If it doesn’t happen there, let’s do it at The Oval, we’ve got two opportunities, but we’d love to do it at the first opportunity.”

Asked about England’s up-and-down nature — their last seven Test results read win, loss, win, loss, win, loss, win — Cook declared himself happy for the sequence to last until the end of the series, enough for a 3-2 win at The Oval, but admitted the inconsistency must be addressed.

“If [the pattern] goes to nine matches, I will be just as happy, but it would be nice to break that trend at Trent Bridge,” he said.