Australia won the fifth Ashes Test by 146 runs to seal a 4-0 series victory against England, who endured a woeful batting collapse in Hobart.
England dismissed Australia for just 155 in their second innings at Bellerive Oval and took control when Rory Burns and Zak Crawley combined to reach 68-0 in reply.
But the tourists fell apart from that point and finished 124 all out, meaning it will be 14 years since their last away win in an Ashes Test by the time they return in 2025.
The tourists trailed by 152 runs at the start of play on Sunday, but Mark Wood got his side off to a strong start by taking a career-best 6-37 to skittle Australia.
The hosts dug in from 63-6 to reach 155 all out and England gave themselves hope of chasing down an improbable 271 through Burns and Crawley.
The pair mounted the highest opening partnership of any side in the series, reaching 36 and 26 respectively but, not for the first time this series, a batting collapse followed.
Cameron Green picked up 3-21, with Dawid Malan (10) his other victim, and England added just 36 more runs from their final eight wickets.
Ben Stokes, who averaged 23.60 with the bat this series, went for five runs, as did Ollie Pope, with Joe Root (11) and Sam Billings (1) doing little to hold off Australia either side.
Chris Woakes (5) fell for single figures the first time this series as he edged Scott Boland behind on the drive, before Mark Wood (11) dragged Pat Cummins onto his stumps.
Australia did not have to wait long to take England's final wicket, with Ollie Robinson bowled for a duck by a Cummins full toss to end the tourists' misery.
England undone by Green
Burns and Crawley tried their best to turn the fifth Test into a contest that could potentially go to the wire, but then up stepped Green to completely kill England's momentum.
England were 60-0 when Green, who is the youngest player to score a half-century for Australia at Bellerive Oval, took over and they were 88-3 when he bowled his final ball.
Incredibly, the tourists were all out for 124 just 22.4 overs later.
Tourists' woes epitomised by Woakes
England have now won only one of their 14 Tests in the past 11 months, but Root must surely be left to wonder what might have been in Hobart.
A turning point arrived when Woakes appeared to have dismissed Alex Carey for 19 earlier in the day, which would have left Australia 91-7, but he was judged to have overstepped.
Carey went on to make a crucial 49 as Australia comfortably claimed another win and matched the margin of their victory from four years ago.
Chanderpaul scores unbeaten 83 as West Indies 'A' set Bangladesh 'A' a target of 461; hosts reach 47-0 at stumps
West Indies ‘A’ will have to take 10 wickets on Friday’s final day if they are to win the third unofficial Test against Bangladesh ‘A’ at the Syhlet International Stadium.
At stumps on Thursday, Bangladesh reached 47 without loss in their second innings, still needing to score 414 more to achieve a most unlikely victory.
Resuming from their overnight score of 157-7 with Nasum Ahmed on seven and Tanzim Hasan Sakib on 17, Bangladesh ‘A’ were bowled out for 205 thanks to Nasum Ahmed’s unbeaten 38.
Hasan Sakib failed to add to his overnight score when he was bowled by Veerasammy Permaul, who took all three remaining Bangladeshi wickets to finish with figures of 3-38. Kevin Sinclair took 2-75 and Anderson Phillip 2-36.
With a healthy lead of 240 runs, the West Indies declined to enforce the follow-on and went in search of quick runs. Opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul scored 83, his second such score of the match as the West Indies raced to 220-5 from 55.2 overs. Captain Joshua da Silva contributed an unbeaten 47, his third such score of the series.
Saif Hasan was the chief wicket-taker with 3-62 while Nasum Ahmed supported with 2-56.
Set a mammoth 461 for victory, Bangladesh ‘A’ still have a mountain to climb to achieve victory on the final day. Mahmudul Hasan Joy will resume on 28. With him at the crease is Zakir Hasan on 14.
West Indies ‘A’ lead the series 1-0.
Daniel Vettori: England’s winning habit more impressive than style of cricket
Daniel Vettori insists it is England’s winning habit rather than their ‘Bazball’ style that has earned the respect of Australia ahead of this summer’s Ashes.
Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have inspired a thrilling revival of England’s Test team, winning 10 out of 12 matches by adopting an aggressive, never say die mindset.
Australia are aiming to retain the Ashes when the series opens at Edgbaston on June 16 and assistant coach Vettori, who played alongside McCullum for New Zealand, insists the hosts’ results trump how they were achieved.
“Irrespective of the style they’re using, they’re playing winning cricket and that’s the thing everyone gravitates towards,” Vettori said.
“The fact that they’ve played so well over an extended period of time has been what’s so impressive.
“Brendon wouldn’t want to make the attention about himself, but he’s got this moniker going for him now. That’s Brendan since he came out of the womb – he’s pretty positive.
“England keep coming and so you’ve got to anticipate that and not back off.”
England are hoping that Stokes is able to play a full part in the five-Test series following his struggle with a knee injury that has required a cortisone injection.
However, there is uncertainty over what contribution their talisman will be able to make with the ball after he was unable to bowl in his side’s most recent outing against New Zealand in February.
“We’re preparing for him to be his normal self. He’s one of the top all-rounders in world cricket. We know how much he brings to the table as an all-rounder,” Vettori said.
“It’s like Cameron Green for us, offering that balance and ability to come in and be an aggressive weapon along with his batting, which has been exceptional.
“Every team wants their all-rounder up and running because it makes things run so smoothly.”
While England warm-up for the Ashes with a one-off Test against Ireland, Australia face India in the ICC World Test Championship final at the Oval.
Vettori is undecided over who has the better build-up.
“Ask me again on the back of these four days of prep!” the former spin bowler said.
“But there’s a real excitement that we have the ability to play one of the best teams in the world in such a crucial game and that should set us up well for the Ashes.
“It’s six Tests of high intensity and you couldn’t ask for anything more.”
England team bus delayed after Just Stop Oil protests
England’s Test summer failed to get off to the best start after the team bus was delayed on its way to Lord’s by Just Stop Oil protesters.
Jonny Bairstow posted a photo on his Instagram story on Thursday morning, which showed Just Stop Oil protesters and police officers in front of their team coach in the middle of a road in Kensington by England’s hotel.
Bairstow’s caption read: “If we’re a bit late, it’s not our fault.”
However, there was no delay to proceedings on the opening day of the one-off Test against Ireland with the four-day contest getting under way at 11am as planned – despite the five-minute delay to the team’s journey.
Just Stop Oil protesters were able to disrupt the Gallagher Premiership final at Twickenham between Saracens and Sale last weekend.
Two men wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts invaded the pitch midway through the first half and threw orange paint powder onto the field before being removed by security staff.
A similar incident occurred at the Crucible during the World Snooker Championship in April.
Robert Milkins’ match against Joe Perry was interrupted when a man wearing a Just Stop Oil T-shirt jumped on to table one and tipped orange powder over the cloth.
Amid the threat of potential protests this week at Lord’s, the MCC said it has enhanced its security measures in some areas for this match.
“We look forward to welcoming players and spectators to the first international Test match of the summer at Lord’s. Their safety and security is the highest priority for MCC,” an MCC spokesperson told the PA news agency.
“We have a number of ground regulations that help us achieve that; including not entering the playing area or demonstrating.
“Whilst protests would disrupt the game, we have a number of security measures in place, some visible, some less so to deter this. In some areas we have enhanced those existing provisions ahead of this summer’s schedule.”
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