England got revenge for defeat in 2004 World Championships

Chris Newton, Rob Hayles, Paul Manning and Stephen Cummings, finished nearly three seconds clear of Australia in a time of four minutes 2.699 secs.

Newton told BBC Sport: "We weren't really worried about Australia. We had it in our minds what we could do. We went out there and did the job."

Hayles added: "It's what I came here for. What a bunch of lads we've got."

Hayles said the team had been confident that they had the beating of the Australians.

It's a bit of payback before hopefully the ultimate payback - in Beijing Stephen Cummings

"That was great," he said. "I have been beaten by the Aussies in the Commonwealth Games on two occasions and unfortunately I missed Manchester, so it's belting to have a battle with them and come out with the gold.

"We expected such a big margin of victory after this morning provided we didn't muck up. It's fair to say we're the best in the world."

Prince Edward was in the velodrome to cheer the England quartet home.

Manning heads English clean sweep

It was a second trip to the podium for the trio of Manning, Hayles and Cummings who swept the medals in the men's 4km individual track pursuit.

Manning, celebrating his second gold of the Games, said the victory was sweet revenge for England's defeat in the 2004 World Championships.

"It keeps us in good spirits. It was a great ride and we battled through and got a result," he said.

Track cycling: Sprint events explained

Cummings, returning to the revenge theme, said: "It's a bit of payback before hopefully the ultimate payback - in Beijing.

"Hopefully we can carry on beating them until Beijing. I think we'll get better."

New Zealand took the bronze medal - beating Malaysia in a race-off.