Australia, 567 & 161 bt England 384 & 342, by five wickets
Carey hits winning runs at SCG as hosts wrap up series 4-1
There were a couple of wobbles along the way but at 2.30pm on the final day in Sydney, Australia had knocked off a target of 160 runs to win the fifth Test by five wickets and claim this Ashes series by a 4-1 scoreline.
Like their tour as a whole, there was a nagging sense of what might have been for England with a few more runs on the board, or better catching and tighter bowling earlier in the contest. But there could be few quibbles from the injured Ben Stokes as he watched the final rites from first slip.
This has been a chastening tour for Stokes and his men, the Ashes lost in a record-equalling 11 days and just that two-day shootout victory in Melbourne to show for it. High hopes were followed by crushing lows, even if Jacob Bethell’s 154 in this fifth Test was a genuine moment of promise.
