That's all from our coverage of the fifth and final Ashes Test, with England losing by five wickets at the SCG.

Australia retained the urn inside 11 days and completed a comprehensive 4-1 win in Sydney.

Make sure you read Stephan Shemilt's day five report here and scroll down for plenty of recaps and reaction.

You don't have to wait long for your next cricket fix, with England's white-ball tour of Sri Lanka kicking off on 22 January and a Men's T20 World Cup in February-March, plus plenty of ongoing franchise action. And before too long, it'll be June's Tests against New Zealand and a Women's T20 World Cup on home soil!

In the mean time, there's plenty of cricket content for you to enjoy on the BBC Sport website:

• England futures at risk but Head an all-format star - player ratings
• Best player, moment & back spasm - our Ashes awards
• 'Whoever signed off England's tour has to go' - Agnew column
• 'Born to play international cricket' - how Bethell came of age
• McCullum and Key given chance to retain roles

Ashes 2025-26 over and out - goodbye!

BBC Sounds

Analysis and interviews from the TMS team will be available in the Test Match Special Podcast shortly.

To keep across all the reaction in our cricket podcasts this week, just search “Ashes” on the Sounds app.

And here’s a reminder, you can now listen to more live cricket and sport than ever before on BBC Sounds, with the Sports Extra 2 and Sports Extra 3 radio streams.

Image source, Getty Images

More from England captain Ben Stokes on TNT Sports: "We have got the right people in this team. It is about using the people that we have in there, with the experience. I want to push these guys as hard as I can and there is a lot more than just what goes on out in the field. I can do a much better job as a captain.

"We made a lot of mistakes on this tour as players and I hold my hands up to say I made mistakes too as captain. You have to be big enough and brave enough to tell yourself that. This is not a blame culture - that is a downfall. It is about taking responsibility and ownership and really understanding where we are at to take ourselves to the next level.

"All I can do is work very hard to give myself the best chance of going out and performing for the team. I will always give absolutely everything. Part of being a sportsman is putting yourself through the ringer and sometimes you do get injured. But it is not through lack of effort. I was in good physical position to get through five Test matches. Unfortunately that wasn't the case."

Image source, Getty Images

More from England captain Ben Stokes on TNT Sports: "For a while, teams are working out how to operate against us as a team. When we seem to get into a situation with the bat where everything looks easy, oppositions are doing a lot of the same things to us now. We need to work out what we do in those situations a lot better.

"We play too much three out of ten cricket in terms of the chances of it coming off. When you do that, the chances are it is not going to come off in your favour.

"It is always frustrating when you lose games and series and you look around at the team and say unbelievable player, unbelievable player, unbelievable player. That's why when you lose a series like we have done, it is even more frustrating. It is up to the people like myself Brendon and the leaders within the group to be honest and truthful as a team."

Jonathan Agnew
BBC Chief Cricket Commentator on Test Match Special

Brendon McCullum is firmly a man of his convictions. Brendon McCullum is Brendon McCullum.

The core beliefs that he has - which is empowering the players and making them believe in themselves. Enjoying their cricket. That is how you should play sport - but it is whether all the players you have can do that together at the same rate.

McCullum is not going to sit there like a naughty boy in the headmaster's office. He will walk out of the door. If he can keep his core beliefs, then maybe there is a way forward for him in a different way.

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on TNT Sports

I think [Stokes and McCullum] have a lot to offer. A lot of people and a lot of the press forget how much better we are than three-and-a-half years ago.

Yes, it didn't go to plan here. They've tried to be a bit new age, not stuck in the mud. People who are old school, if it doesn't go to plan will say 'see? Rubbish. Get gone.'

I stand with the fact they have improved the England team. There will be moments that have traditionalists shaking their heads, saying 'this is nonsense'. This last Test for me, this showed what an England team could be like in the future - albeit without a spinner.

• First Test (Perth) - Australia won by eight wickets
• Second Test (Brisbane) – Australia won by eight wickets
• Third Test (Adelaide) – Australia won by 82 runs
• Fourth Test (Melbourne) – England won by four wickets
• Fifth Test (Sydney) –Australia won by five wickets

England coach Brendon McCullum speaking to TNT Sports: "We weren't too far away in this Test ,match but when you look back at the missed opportunities it kind of summed up the series for us to be honest. We've had our chances and haven't been able to capitalise.

"At the end of a series you try to look at what you have done well and you are honest with the things which haven't worked and you try to work out what the evolution is."

On dropped catches: "When you drop one or two it becomes tough thing to get back on the wagon. I felt we were engaged, I felt we were ready. I felt we had done plenty of fielding work. I think there were a lot of hard catches which were put down. Some of the hangers Australia took throughout the series changed games and the outcomes. That's something we will look at. We need more resources to polish up on that."

England's preparation leading into the series: "I have already put my hand up and said we haven't quite got everything right with preparation. That's not just the first Test but also in between the first and second Test as well.

"We asked for the WACA but we were told we couldn't. We were offered Adelaide which is a different surface than the Optus. We tried to make do with what we had. We went with preparation which had been successful in the last three-and-a-half years but unfortunately it didn't work. There is no perfect preparation but it doesn't mean we don't look at it."

On his future: "I've been asked if I am keen to carry on, and I am keen. That's because I believe we've made progress over the last three-and-a-half years. While we didn't get the ultimate prize which was to come down here and succeed, we have become a better cricket team. The average age, apart from Root and Stokes, is quite raw."

Jonathan Agnew
BBC Chief Cricket Commentator on Test Match Special

The lack of flexibility and lack of discipline needs to change. Discipline on the field and off the field. It has to be addressed, there are issues.

If you compare it to Australia - they are the most disciplined team in the world. The difference is there for anyone to see.

Why are all these players not emulating all the examples that are there? Joe Root for example. That is where you have to treat individuals in different ways. What has happened to Ollie Pope and Harry Brook? They are good batsmen.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Australia's players drank in the celebrations after wrapping up victory at the SCG.

England captain Ben Stokes at the presentation: "It was a great game to be involved in. Test matches that go to the fifth day and have a bit of drama at the end are always great to be a part of. We should have got 100 more and we allowed Australia to get 100 too many in their first innings. If you look at 200 runs on day five on that wicket, we would have been in the box seat.

"Australia are an incredible team. They played some incredible cricket. The individuals that stood up with the bat and some incredible performances with the ball as well. You've got to give them a lot of credit.

"But to be truthful to ourselves we've done a bit of damage ourselves. It's a tough one to take. We know we can play a lot better than that but we've got to give full credit to Steve, Pat, and the Australia team."

On the lessons England have learned: "The time for reflection properly is not right now. We've got a long time off before our next Test series. We've got time to go away and reflect not only on what we've looked at from this series but also series before. Come June back in the UK, hopefully we can put the wrongs right."

On Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue: "Incredible. For Beth to wait for his opportunity towards the back end of the series, he put a lot of hard work and graft into his game if the opportunity did come. That knock we witnessed there was incredible. For a 22-year-old lad to come out in the fifth Test of a massive series and do that against a quality bowling attack on a difficult wicket is incredible to watch.

"Josh Tongue just keeps going from strength to strength. He puts the shift on, gets given the responsibility to play the game for England, and he keeps impressing. We've got some unbelievable talent to work with going forward."

On his injury: "Been better, been worse. I won't know until I get home."

Phil Tufnell
Former England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

England are a one-trick pony team. They have not been able to step up when they have had the opposition on the ropes. The opposition know how to step up to them. They don't need to force the game.

I would like to play poker against this England team because they are easy to manoeuvre around. They are not going to change and teams around the world have adapted to that.

England captain Ben Stokes speaking on TNT Sports: "I've been better, I have been worse.

On his injury: "I don't know the full extent of it, I will wait until I get back to the UK to get an MRI scan. I have lost track of how many I have had!

"This game, we should have got a hundred more runs. We let Australia get a hundred runs too many. That has happened a lot throughout the series. Australia have played very, very, very good cricket and we compliment them on that and give them the respect that they played good cricket. But we have also had a lot of moments where we have done a lot of damage to ourselves. When you combine the two in a massive series like the Ashes, if you make mistakes as a team, it is not going to end well.

On the Jake Weatherald caught behind: "The technology should not be the talk of what has happened over the last eight weeks. It seems to constantly pop up. You feel for the umpires out in the middle because it is not actually their decision. The technology and the third umpire make the decisions upstairs. It is frustrating and the consistency has not been there. That is not the reason we have lost 4-1 but it is frustrating."

Phil Tufnell
Former England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

Australia were concerned when England first landed here. With that aggression, they could have been in for a real fight.

But you have to win three sessions a day. We handed everything back to Australia after winning one session.

So many people are asking - how do England walk back into the dressing room after some of the shots they have played?

Australia stand-in captain Steve Smith on TNT Sports: “It was a really good Test match. The wicket was outstanding. I think it was the best one we've seen here for a long time. It offered a little bit of everything. Couple of good days of batting, cracks started to come into play and do a few things, and the rough towards the end. Great wicket and really good to be a part of another victory: 4-1.”

On not selecting a spinner: “No regrets from us. We won the game. We thought the wicket would crack up a lot more than it probably did, a lot of up and down movement, and a little bit quicker. We didn’t envisage that kind of rough. We might have got that wrong but we had a couple of options with Heady and Slug [Webster] being able to do what he did. That extra batting probably helped us in the first innings get up where we wanted to get to. You can’t have it all. We managed to get by.”

On Josh Tongue: “He’s a good bowler. He came in and did a great job from the outset in the first game he played. I was a little surprised he didn’t start the series. Having played him in England I thought he was a really nice bowler and would suit these conditions. He’s got the skiddy bounce from wide of the crease and able to hit the top of your stumps from a shorter length a bit like Scott Boland. I thought he was going to be a handful and he turned out to be. He bowled exceptionally throughout the series and England have a bright one there.”

On celebrating with England: “I said to Stokesy, “come in for a jar”. I’m sure we’ll see the boys and reflect on what’s been a fun series to be a part of.”

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on TNT Sports

It was pretty even-stevens with the bat. Australia were undoubtedly better with the ball.

And in the field, it was an absolute no-brainer. At the time when you really need to take a catch, the half chance to win a match, Australia did that time and time again.

Australia out-performed what I thought they were capable of. England under-performed on this trip.

Srinivas Vijaykumar
CricViz analyst

Travis Head with the player of the match award, his first in this Ashes series, for his impact in the first innings with 163 (166) and another quick 29 (35) in the final innings chasing down the 160 target.

Since he returned to the Australian side in the 2021-22 Ashes, Head has been awarded the player of a Test match on 10 occasions - double the next best, with Harry Brook, Ravindra Jadeja and Prabath Jayasuriya - all on five awards each.

The left-hander has by far been the most impactful player in the longest format in the last four years for his attacking and clinical batting performances.

England batter Jacob Bethell speaking to TNT Sports: "I would have been a bit better with the win but we gave it a big old crack."

On watching Australia lift the urn: "Very hungry [to win it back]. It's not nice watching them have all the fun. I think we showed some great fight at the back end of this series. All of us have to remember how badly this feels and take it into not letting it happen again."

On Australia's chase: "I wanted a few [overs] there. I was wanging them down. I think that chase could have been different. I'm gutted I dropped that catch. If that stuck - Marnus got 12 or 15 more off the next over, so 15 more at the end there would've been different. In the end, we were 40 or 50 short."

On what he's learned during the series: "One thing I've learned is the relentlessness of the Aussies. When they edge their nose in front, they make it bloody hard to get back in the game. I think at times we've edged our nose in front and not quite held onto it. That's something they never did in the series. Once they got on top, they never let us back in."

On facing Mitchell Starc: "I've faced Will O'Rourke in New Zealand. He was cranking it up and was bouncier, coming from a bit taller than Starcy. It did feel quicker today than yesterday, he was charging in trying to take wickets. I like facing fast bowling, kind of ducking and weaving and just getting in the contest with them. Hopefully it's something I can continue to do."

On when England will reflect on this series: "Quite a few of us [are] in the white-ball squad going to Sri Lanka in 10 days or so. We'll get back to England, everyone will have a reset and go again. We'll have a few chats today and tomorrow, not about the series coming up but reflecting on this one. The white-ball side is in a great space, especially the T20 side. I'm really looking forward to the T20 World Cup."

On his century: "I still don't think it's quite sunk in. In the field I was trying to give it everything. It will sink in over the next few days when I get some time to myself."

Glenn McGrath
Ex-Australia bowler on BBC Test Match Special

England thought this was their first chance for a long time to win over here. They were going to come out and play their way.

It took three Test matches for them to learn that the way they play does not work over here. You like to think it is a learning lesson.

I like the idea of playing without fear but you have to be able to adapt to the conditions. You have accountability to yourself, the team and the fans.

Image source, Getty Images

England coach Brendon McCullum speaking on Test Match Special: "It was brilliant game of cricket. There was a bit of seam movement early on and then spin played a part. The game itself was amazing and we weren't too far away.

"Overall, we have got a few things wrong and missed a few key moments. Australia have out bowled us.

"We know we have not been at out best, we are first to put our hands up. The score line obviously reflects that. We came here with high hopes and we haven't been able to walk away with what we wanted to when we arrived.

"There are lessons to learn and as long as you learn them and improve on them, you can be a better team.

"We want to thank all of the England fans who have come here to support us throughout the tour. And fans watching back home. It has been a great series."