England may have saved themselves from a 7-0 humiliation but the win was far from convincing. It'll give them some confidence but it still leaves plenty of questions unanswered ahead of the Champions Trophy. Australia will be disappointed with their batting, but the series win, and the margin, is a satisfying finish after the Ashes loss. A long tour for them, many of the players have stayed on since the World Twenty20, and a mixed one at the end of it. 6-1 is a bad enough result for the home team, only five times has the scoreline read the same, twice involving England. The presentation is yet to happen, and we'll get you the details in just a bit.
Strauss: "Reasonably happy to win today, we were very good to field. Graeme Swann put in an exceptional performance. We made hard work chasing 170, but we got there. Hopefully, people will put on a better show in South Africa, it's a different set of circumstances. The side is not the form it should be in, but we have an opportunity to prove ourselves. We've only got ourselves to blame for this performance. The schedule is tough, and it will continue to be so, so we have to stay fit and also relax when we get a break."
Swann is the Man of the Match
Swann: "I spoke to HArmison yesterday and he told me it'll turn today. I didn't believe him. It was nice to see the ball gripping. We didn't want to lose 7-0 and it was important we got what we wanted in the end. Champions Trophy will be a tough tournament, but there's this big momentum word that everyone's talking about, so i guess we are on a roll now."
Nice stuff, some self-deprecating wit there.
Cameron White is the Man of the Series,.
White: "Nice for Ricky to make way for me earlier in the series, so I'm happy to make the most of it. We'll just wait and see what the conditions are like in South Africa, and hopefully it'll go well."
The players are collecting their individual medals now.
Ponting: "We didn't play well today, the wicket just nipped a little bit so we were a little outplayed today. I expected to bounce back well after the Ashes, a few fresh guys came in so that livened things up a little. I think we'll be very competitive in the Champions Trophy. It makes up a small amount for the Ashes disappointment, but we want to put the Ashes behind us and play the best we can. We're looking forward to coming back in the middle of next year and doing it all over again."
Thanks for tuning in and sending us your feedback. We hope you've enjoyed our coverage throughout this tour, and do join us again for the Champions Trophy in a couple of days. Until then, it's goodbye from all of us at Cricinfo. Be well!
END OF OVER:40 | 2 Runs | ENG: 176/6 (1 run required from 60 balls, RR: 4.40, RRR: 0.10)
- Tim Bresnan10 (19b)
- Paul Collingwood13 (21b)
- Brett Lee10-3-33-1
- Ben Hilfenhaus6-1-37-1
Collingwood has the honour of scoring the winning runs
A big cheer from the crowd there, more out of relief than anything else