Three greats bow out in triumph

SYDNEY – Australia completed the most-crushing Ashes series victory in 86 years on Friday, sending bowling greats Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath into Test retirement with a 5-0 sweep of England.

Opening batsman Justin Langer (20), the third veteran retiring after the match, combined with Matthew Hayden to pick off the 46 runs needed as Australia won the fifth Test by 10 wickets after England was skittled for 147 in its second innings. Hayden (23) hit a six off Sajid Mahmood to make the scores level, then took a single from the next ball for the winner.The Australians have now won 16 and drawn one of their 17 test matches since the shock Ashes series loss in England in 2005, including the last 12 in succession.Ricky Ponting, widely criticised after being the first Australian captain in 16 years to lose the Ashes when his squad went down 2-1 in England 16 months ago, guided the hosts to a clinical and ruthless series triumph this time.Ponting player of series Warwick Armstrong’s side of 1920-’21 is the only other team to sweep a five-match Ashes series.Ponting was voted player of the series after scoring 576 runs at an average of 82, including two important hundreds.”It’s a great thrill for me,” said Ponting, adding that he’d felt confident after the first hour of the first Test in Brisbane on November 23 that Australia would reclaim the Ashes.And the generally stoic Ponting said he could hardly contain his emotions and had to hide from the TV cameras and photographers.”It’s not so much the result as the occasion with the guys finishing.I shed a bit of a tear out on the ground,” he said.’Should savour it’ “The last six or seven weeks have been the best of my cricketing life.”Ponting said the whole group could now celebrate.”We haven’t made a big deal about the 5-0 result …even after the game there wasn’t much talk of it,” he said.”But it’s “80-something years since it’s happened in Australia, so we should savour it.”Warne and McGrath, ranked number one and number three on the list of all-time wicket-takers in Test cricket, bowled in tandem at the last English pair.McGrath took the last wicket – no 11 James Anderson (5) scooping a catch to Mike Hussey at mid-on – to return 3-38.Warne will finish his career with a world record 708 Test wickets.McGrath had 563 Test wickets and is the leading Test paceman so far.Nampa-APHayden (23) hit a six off Sajid Mahmood to make the scores level, then took a single from the next ball for the winner.The Australians have now won 16 and drawn one of their 17 test matches since the shock Ashes series loss in England in 2005, including the last 12 in succession.Ricky Ponting, widely criticised after being the first Australian captain in 16 years to lose the Ashes when his squad went down 2-1 in England 16 months ago, guided the hosts to a clinical and ruthless series triumph this time.Ponting player of series Warwick Armstrong’s side of 1920-’21 is the only other team to sweep a five-match Ashes series.Ponting was voted player of the series after scoring 576 runs at an average of 82, including two important hundreds.”It’s a great thrill for me,” said Ponting, adding that he’d felt confident after the first hour of the first Test in Brisbane on November 23 that Australia would reclaim the Ashes.And the generally stoic Ponting said he could hardly contain his emotions and had to hide from the TV cameras and photographers.”It’s not so much the result as the occasion with the guys finishing.I shed a bit of a tear out on the ground,” he said.’Should savour it’ “The last six or seven weeks have been the best of my cricketing life.”Ponting said the whole group could now celebrate.”We haven’t made a big deal about the 5-0 result …even after the game there wasn’t much talk of it,” he said.”But it’s “80-something years since it’s happened in Australia, so we should savour it.”Warne and McGrath, ranked number one and number three on the list of all-time wicket-takers in Test cricket, bowled in tandem at the last English pair.McGrath took the last wicket – no 11 James Anderson (5) scooping a catch to Mike Hussey at mid-on – to return 3-38.Warne will finish his career with a world record 708 Test wickets.McGrath had 563 Test wickets and is the leading Test paceman so far.Nampa-AP