4.00pm - Australia 158 for 3 (M Waugh 42*, Martyn 33*)
Australia win by 7 wickets and win the series

Australia have regained the Ashes in style. Set 158 to win they were in a spot of bother at 89 for 3 with Steve Waugh retired hurt, but a flurry of classy boundaries from Mark Waugh and Damien Martyn guided them home. Australia have now won seven Ashes series in a row - equalling England's record from the end of the 19th century - while England have lost their last four Tests, their worst sequence since losing seven back-to-back between 1992 and 1993.

The day had started with England hoping to extend their overnight lead of 139 to something approaching 200. But they managed just 18 more as Jason Gillespie, preferred by Steve Waugh to Glenn McGrath, picked up three wickets in successive overs to take what little wind there was out of England's sails. Gillespie trapped the hapless Ian Ward lbw for 13, bowled Robert Croft off an inside edge for 0, then had Andy Caddick caught behind for 4. Shane Warne completed the rout when Alex Tudor was caught off a leading edge for 8. England were all out for 162, and were left hoping that Australia suffered one of their periodic bouts of fourth-inningsitis.

It might have happened if umpire Venkat had upheld Darren Gough's bellowing appeal for leg before against Matthew Hayden second ball, but after that England were only allowed brief glimpses of the Promised Land.

Caddick had Michael Slater caught at third slip for 12 to make it 36 for 1, but Hayden was in the groove, pulling the bouncers and finding the midwicket gap with uncharacteristic elan. At lunch it was 68 for 1. Ricky Ponting drove Robert Croft's first ball after the interval for four, but edged his second - the arm ball - to Alec Stewart for 17, and when Hayden fell lbw to Tudor for 42 (even if the ball pitched outside leg), and Steve Waugh retired hurt a ball later, England had a faint whiff of an unlikely win.

But Mark Waugh and Martyn put them off the scent amid the showers with some regal strokeplay. Martyn put the issue beyond any real doubt in one ten-minute flurry, striking Tudor for three fours in a row (a pull, a tuck, and a gorgeous back-foot cover-force), and thereafter it was a matter of time.

The end came anti-climactically with a Caddick no-ball, and the celebrations began. All that's left for England now is to avoid an unprecedented 5-0 Ashes defeat. It's hard to see how they are going to do it.

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