Australia has clinched one of its finest and most enthralling Ashes victories - a six-wicket win against England with 19 balls to spare in the second Test at Adelaide Oval.
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On a gripping fifth day, Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath demolished England's second innings for a paltry 129, and Michael Hussey, with a typically dependable 61 not out off 66 balls, and Michael Clarke (21 not out) steered Australia to 4-168 with an unfinished fifth-wicket stand of 47 in 10.3 overs.
Australia had faced the daunting task of scoring 168 off a minimum of 36 overs to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series - and a Test supposedly destined for a draw on a sluggish pitch produced a tense finish, after all.
It was no consolation for England that no team had previously lost a Test after closing its first innings at such a mammoth total as 6-551, nor that only Australia - twice - had lost after having bigger first-innings totals - 586 against England in Sydney in 1894-95 and 556 against India in Adelaide in 2003-04.
Justin Langer (seven) was caught at point by Ian Bell off Matthew Hoggard in the third over and Matthew Hayden (18) skied a pull off Andrew Flintoff to mid-wicket where Paul Collingwood completed a very good falling catch running with his back to the ball.
Man-of-the-match Ricky Ponting and Hussey played with great aplomb to hurry on 83 off 91 balls until Ponting drove Ashley Giles uppishly to Andrew Strauss at short extra cover.
The Australian captain's 49 swept his aggregate from the first two Tests of this series to 447 at the colossal average of 149. His previous three scores were 196, 60 not out and 142.
Australia felt a nervous twitch when Damien Martyn (five) cut Flintoff to Strauss in the gully to be 4-121 in the 23rd over, but the ever-reliable Hussey and Clarke stayed together - and a jubilant Hussey hit the winning run by driving James Anderson through cover.
Clarke benefited from a seven after running three and being gifted four overthrows by Kevin Pietersen, and also from being dropped on 20 by Geraint Jones off Anderson.
Earlier, the incomparable Warne whipped out Strauss (34), Pietersen (two), Giles (0) and Hoggard (four) and was involved in the run out of Bell (26), Lee removed Flintoff (two) and Jones (10), while McGrath disposed of Steve Harmison (eight) and Anderson (one) as England lost 9-60 in 43 overs.
Collingwood remained unconquered on 22 off 119 balls in 198 minutes, although on 18 he edged a big-turning Warne leg-break that brushed both Adam Gilchrist's gloves and Hayden's hand at slip.
Warne bowled unchanged from the scoreboard end and took 4-29 off 27 overs after having bowled five overs for 20 late on day four.
Lee's fifth-day figures were 2-22 off 13 overs from the River Torrens end and McGrath bagged 2-3 off six overs.
England resumed its second innings at 1-59 - 97 ahead - with Strauss on 31 and Bell 18, and, in all, lost 4-30 off 28 overs before lunch, with the wicket-to-wicket sequence being 4-8 in nine overs.
Strauss departed in the 11th over of the day after he pushed forward defensively to Warne and umpire Steve Bucknor adjudged him caught bat-pad by Hussey at forward short leg.
Two overs later, Bell guided Warne to backward point and started to run but then hesitated as Collingwood sprinted down the pitch. Bell took off again but was well short of the crease when Warne hit the stumps with an under-arm throw after accepting Clarke's throw.
Seven balls later, Pietersen missed a vigorous sweep off Warne, bowling over the wicket, and lost his off stump as the ball spun wickedly from footmarks outside leg stump.
Flintoff drove boldly at a Lee thunderbolt he could easily have left alone outside off stump and snicked a comfortable catch to Gilchrist.
England was 5-89 at lunch, with Collingwood and Jones both on five.
Jones left in the second over after the break, squirting a wide ball from Lee to gully where Hayden clung to a sharp catch low to his right.
Giles went three overs later, edging a Warne leg-break to slip where Hayden held another good catch, and Hoggard was on his way six overs later after edging a Warne wrong 'un onto his stumps.
Harmison was lbw to the sixth ball of McGrath's first over of the day and Anderson was out the same way 10 overs later.
Warne's match figures of 5-216 off 85 overs (21 maidens) boosted his wicket tally to 695 at an average of 25.68 in 142 Tests. He has taken 182 wickets (av. 24.11) in 34 Tests against England.
The official fifth-day attendance of 20,355 (thousands more came after it was given) lifted the match aggregate to 136,761 - the biggest at an Ashes Test in Adelaide since the 1958-59 Test, which drew a total crowd of 150,690.
Australia has now won 16 of 29 Tests against England at Adelaide Oval. England has won eight and five have been drawn.
