The moment that ended 24 years of hurt
It took nearly 20 overs, but finally at 11.53 AM local time, the moment every England cricket fan had been waiting 24 years for came to pass when Tim Bresnan found Ben Hilfenhaus' edge and Matt Prior took the catch that confirmed England's crushing victory. Ashes retained.
Victory by a margin
Some lusty hitting by Brad Haddin and Peter Siddle at least prevented Australia from suffering the ignominy of their heaviest defeat by England on home soil - an innings and 230 run defeat at Adelaide in 1892. But this was still England's biggest win down under since 1912. With the win at Adelaide in the 2nd Test also featuring high - see full list of England's largest margin of victory in Australia - England have certainly not resisted the temptation to kick the Aussies when they are down in this series.
Strength in numbers
Whilst Australia's selectors must be scratching their heads over which players to turn to next, England look to have real strength in depth within their ranks. Chris Tremlett has taken 13 wickets in two matches since coming in for Stuart Broad at Perth and Tim Bresnan stepped up to the plate here with six wickets. The Aussies would love to have a spinner of Monty Panesar's ability and there are others such as Eoin Morgan who would stroll into this Australian side.
Aussie grit from Haddin and Siddle
Other than Ricky Ponting, Haddin and Siddle must be the two most archetypal Australians in their XI and they certainly showed that at least they weren't prepared to go down without a fight. The Australian selectors could do worse than using these two as the blueprint of the types of characters that they should rebuild their team on. From the outside this Australian side lacks the toughness of previous vintages - there is a vice-captain who apologises on Twitter for not walking, an opening batsman who looks close to tears every time he is out and a fast bowler who is a bit of a Mummy's boy. Mental toughness and grit are two attributes that will help Australia recover from this debacle.
Player of the day
Brad Haddin showed his quality with the bat once again, but on a day like today this award can only go to an Englishman and that man is Andrew Strauss for leading the first successful Ashes expedition by an England captain for 24 long and mostly tortuous years.
Zero of the day
There were no obvious zeroes in the middle today, so the Australian XI share the honours for their collective massive failure here in Melbourne. The Ashes were lost with barely a whimper.
Prospects for Sydney
Whilst there will doubtless be hangovers for most of the England players tomorrow, one hopes that they will save the bigger celebrations for after the Sydney test, when they will hope to win the series by a convincing 3-1 margin. For Australia, it doesn't look like it will take much for them to completely capitulate at the SCG, but the prospect of a drawn series should provide some incentive - albeit hollow.
Where next?
Day 3 @ Melbourne: England on the brink as revolution looms down under
Day 2 @ Melbourne: Trott so hot as Ponting boils over
Day 1 @ Melbourne: Ponting's Turkeys are stuffed on Boxing Day
Check out all our Reverse Sweep heroes and zeroes: featuring Shane Watson, Graham Gooch, Justin Langer and Matt Hayden amongst others
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Read all the latest from our Ashes 2010/11 coverage
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