Northern View: ‘Aussie Snoozeball’ hinted at a dreaded future. England have changed the course of Test cricket

Yippee! An actual victory. Not a ‘moral win’ to be added as a footnote. Thank goodness. England were becoming embarrassing, bleating on about being unlucky, about taking pride in performance and all that sort of guff. But the fifth Test win brooked no argument.

Sure, England’s fortunes took an upturn with a sneaky change of ball and a little fiddle with the bail before Stuart Broad’s final double-bubble act. I know. I know. The series has actually been drawn and the Aussies retain the Ashes.

But at least England have got proper credibility from this. No more chirping from Australian fans about whingeing, self-deluding Poms, taking too much refuge in near-misses and not enough focus on the hard-nosed means needed to get across the line. This Test was far from a gimme. In fact, for long stretches the momentum appeared to be marginally on Australia’s side.