Australia has regained the Ashes from England after winning the third Ashes Test at the WACA Ground in Perth by 206 runs and taking an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the series.
Australia (244 and 527-5 declared) claimed four of the five wickets it needed during the first session on the final day, before Shane Warne (4-115) bowled English cult hero Monty Panesar two balls after lunch to spark wild celebrations in the stands and on the field.
England made 350 in its second innings having been dismissed for 215 in its first dig, with Kevin Pietersen again top-scoring for the tourists with a resolute 60 not out.
Skipper Ricky Ponting attributed the work his team has put in since its 1-2 series loss in England last year as the main reason behind the resounding series win.
"In the last 12 or 14 months we worked harder than we ever have before … and all that hard work has paid off now," Ponting said.
Asked if this win is more special than other Ashes wins he has been involved in, Ponting replied: "Yeah, obviously them winning the last one, we had to have a look at ourselves.
"As individuals and as a team we all did that. I wasn't hurting any more than anyone else after last year though, even though I was captain and a lot of things were levelled at me.
"(But) right now we are going savour the moment, we have won the Ashes."
Local hero Mike Hussey earned man-of-the-match honours for his 74 not out in the first innings and maiden Ashes ton (103) in the second innings.
"I have had to work hard to get in this Test side, but everyone has to work hard and put runs on the board and take wickets and that is the way it should be - this is the Australian side," an elated Hussey said.
"I just try and make every innings count and never take anything for granted, the baggy green cap means so much to me."
Warne added three scalps on day five to move to 699 for his career, while Stuart Clark (2-56) increased his Ashes-leading wicket-haul to 16 with one. Glenn McGrath (2-61) and Brett Lee (1-75) took their wickets late on day four.
A piece of outstanding fielding from Ponting sent Geraint Jones (run out) packing for his second duck of the Test.
After Warne clean-bowled Andrew Flintoff for 51 to reduce England to 336-6, the leg-spinner struck Jones on the pads in his next over as he went forward, the ball ricocheting to Ponting at silly mid-off.
While the other 10 Australians appealed for lbw, Ponting whipped the ball out of his hands into the stumps, and with Jones posing with his bat in the air just outside his ground, it provided a more calamitous moment than his failure to glove a catch from Mike Hussey in the second innings when he was on 48 (he went on to make 103).
Jones's two ducks in this match come after he made 19, 33, one and 10 in the opening two Tests, leaving the wicketkeeper in doubt of being selected in the fourth Test.
Clark then trapped Sajid Mahmood lbw for four, as England slumped to 345-8, before Warne had Steve Harmison lbw for a duck with only one run added to the total.
Earlier, England resumed at 265-5 with Pietersen unbeaten on 37 and Flintoff two not out, and the pair set about taking it up to the bowlers.
England's total climbed to 336-5 on the strength of Pietersen and Flintoff's 75-run stand which included a number of boundaries - Flintoff struck eight fours and a six and smashed 13 off Lee's first over.
Two balls after he played a late-cut off McGrath for four which spilt the middle between a wide fifth slip and regulation gully to move to 47, Flintoff hit a French cut for four that barely missed his stumps to register his first half-century of the series
Flintoff's renegade innings was then punctuated by his failure to keep a Warne leg-break out which rattled into his stumps, starting the England collapse as the tourists lost their next four wickets for just 14 runs.
The fourth day saw 12,228 fans flock to the WACA Ground, bringing the total figure for the match to 103,440- smashing the previous record of 84,142 set at the venue in 1970 during the inaugural Test match between Australia and England in Perth.
