Travelling Australian fans help Kasprowicz and Lee celebrate

The Aussie skipper said: "We've had a few Test matches like that one of late. We had a very famous one in the Ashes when we didn't get across the line.

"But it was good to see the same two guys who were out there on that day were also out there again today."

Ponting also said Australia were shaping well for the Ashes series.

The 3-0 series sweep in South Africa made it a run of eight wins in nine Tests for Australia since the draw at The Oval last September saw them relinquish the Ashes.

Ponting said: "We have discovered the ability to turn things around.

Match report Match scorecard

"We have had a look at the set-up within ourselves and we've done that quite dramatically.

"We are improving day in, day out. We were a long way below our best in the Ashes and since then our Test cricket has improved every day we have played.

"We're heading in the right direction now. We'll get this series out of the way in Bangladesh, then we've got a long break to get fit and ready for the Ashes."

Man of the series was Stuart Clark, who only played because Glenn McGrath stayed in Australia to help his wife recover from cancer.

We were pretty scared out there, the wicket was doing a bit Brett Lee

Ponting said of him: "It is more than a dream for him to be man of the series in his first series.

"It is just fantastic. He has stepped into Glenn's shoes and done fantastically well."

Man of the match Lee said: "I thought Makhaya Ntini (10- 178) deserved the award but it was a fantastic final morning for us.

"We were pretty scared out there, the wicket was doing a bit. Right at the end Justin (Langer) had the pads on and we had to make sure he didn't have to bat."

Ponting confirmed that Langer would have gone out to bat if another wicket had fallen, even though he was still suffering from concussion after being hit on the helmet earlier in the game.

"When we got down to about 10 runs to win, Justin took it upon himself to put the pads on," he said.

"He had his chest guard on, he had his forearm guard on, he had his helmet on, and he was pretty keen to get out there."

"He was probably only ever going to go out there if he could stand at the non-striker's end.

"We couldn't risk or afford him having to face any deliveries."

Australia's Mike Hussey, meanwhile, has reached the top 10 in the Test batting rankings faster than any other player since they were first introduced.