England have ended the Ashes series in fitting style, losing 10 wickets for just 56 runs to succumb to Australia by 146 runs in Hobart.
Even with 23 wickets having tumbled during the opening two days, the end of the match and series looked unlikely to come on Sunday with Australia resuming their second innings on 37-3.
However, England started in a manner which suggested that they still believed they could conclude a woeful series on a high note, dismissing their hosts for 155.
Mark Wood was superb, ending with figures of 6-37, and Stuart Broad chipped in with 3-51 to leave England with a testing, but achievable, target of 271.
For the first 16 overs, the chase looked on as Rory Burns and Zak Crawley put on 68 for the opening wicket before Burns was bowled for 26 just before the second interval by Cameron Green.
England proceeded to lose their next nine wickets in less than 23 overs, Crawley (36) the only player to come out with any credit having lasted almost two hours at the crease.
None of his other teammates went past 78 minutes, and although the likes of Joe Root (11) and Sam Billings (1) can claim to be undone by an increasingly unreliable pitch, this was yet another weak capitulation from a team which has looked multiple levels behind their opponents in every way throughout a one-sided series.
Darren Plant
