BBC SPORT | Cricket | The Ashes | Australia triumph in final Test

Fifth Test, The Oval, day five: Australia 1st innings 641-4 dec; England 1st 432 & 184
Australia win by an innings and 25 runs

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Australia completed a 4-1 series victory at The Oval as England's batsmen crumbled again in the face of the tourists' attack.

Man-of-the-match Shane Warne took 11 wickets in the game, while Glenn McGrath claimed seven as the home side's top order was put to the sword.

England's hopes of battling to a draw were dashed in familiar fashion by Steve Waugh's men, who moved another step closer to claiming the tag of the best Test side the game has ever seen.

Only a spirited 39 not out from Darren Gough looked like taking the match past tea - but when the final wicket of Phil Tufnell fell England were still 25 runs short of Australia's total.

Caddick takes evasive action against Lee
The damage had been done in the morning, when Warne and McGrath had England reeling with another devastating demonstration of Australia's superiority.

The home side began the day on 40-1 and needed to bat for most of the day to have any chance of avoiding defeat.

But those hopes disappeared in the first hour as Australia took four wickets for just nine runs.

Warne bagged seven wickets in the first innings and began the final day in similar style, adding to his haul in the fourth over when Butcher was caught by Steve Waugh at silly point.

There was no respite for the batsmen at the other end where McGrath was giving Trescothick a torrid time, and he got rid of the England opener in the next over.

After seeing Trescothick dropped by Ricky Ponting in the slips McGrath made amends with his next ball, catching the Englishman himself off a vicious delivery.

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Warne celebrates the demise of Ramprakash
With England rocking on 48 for three, a significant innings was required from the captain.

But Warne piled on the misery by trapping Nasser Hussain lbw for two in the next over, and McGrath then reduced England to 55-5 when Usman Afzaal was caught by Ponting in the slips.

Mark Ramprakash and Alec Stewart gave cause for hope as they briefly halted the procession of wickets, but Warne made the decisive breakthrough shortly before lunch.

Ramprakash had shown signs of the form that took him to a century in the first innings but, after several strong appeals, Warne finally claimed his third wicket of the morning.

Matthew Hayden reacted quickly at short gully to an attempted cut and Ramprakash was heading back to the pavilion for just 19.

With the score at 188 for 6 at lunch, England were in desperate trouble.

Nasser Hussain
Hussain is trapped lbw by Warne
Andy Caddick and Alec Stewart managed to keep Australia at bay for the first half hour of the afternoon session, but again it was Warne who provided the inspiration for the tourists.

England's hopes all but disappeared when the leg-spinner bowled Stewart for 34, and the next delivery saw Brett Lee end Caddick's innings with a blistering yorker.

Darren Gough and Jimmy Ormond then frustrated the Australians by putting on 58 before Waugh called McGrath back into the attack.

The seamer soon had Ormond caught behind on 17 and then wrapped up the match two balls later when Tufnell edged to Warne at first slip.

Despite a brave effort by the likes of Caddick, Ormond and Gough in the afternoon, Australia had again done the damage against England's top order batsmen.

It was a familiar finish to one of the more one-sided series played on English soil.