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SYDNEY - Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer enjoyed the perfect end to their test careers when Australia beat England by 10 wickets in the final Ashes test this afternoon to complete a 5-0 Ashes whitewash.
"I'm pretty excited actually," Warne told Australian television. "To win 5-0
is a fantastic achievement by this group of guys. This team's played some sensational cricket during the summer. To finish off the way we have today, 5-0, is a sensational way to do it."
McGrath, who took the final England wicket, paid tribute to his team mates.
"I don't think we've ever played team wise as we've played this series," he said. "The time's ripe. It would have been nice to knock the stumps out but I can't complain."
Langer was at the crease when his partner Matthew Hayden hit the winning runs.
"To win 5-0, we've been so determined to win this series and win it so well ... it just can't be any better than that," he said.
"My prime emotion is just that we've won the series 5-0. To have played a test match like this ... it's the perfect time to let go of it.
"The parting word is that the baggy green cap means a lot to a lot of people. To wear it 105 times has been an absolute pleasure and an honour."
Australia needed just 46 runs to win the fifth Ashes cricket test and inflict a 5-0 series whitewash after bowling England out for 147 in their second innings earlier.
Langer and Matthew Hayden finished unbeaten on 20 and 23 respectively, the duo going down in the record books as the most successful Australian opening partnership ever.
Langer's last knock lifted his career run tally to 7,696 at an average of 45.27, which included 23 centuries.
It took Australia just over an hour to claim the last five England wickets, and the tourists only managed to extend their lead by 33 runs today.
Glenn McGrath, who bowled in tandem at the end with Shane Warne in their final test appearances, fittingly took the final wicket at his home ground, when he had James Anderson caught at mid-on. McGrath finished with the pick of the figures, with three for 38.
Warne and McGrath led the Australian team off the ground with arms aloft amid a standing ovation from another crowd.
The Australian win gave the home side only the ninth whitewash in a five-match series, the fourth in this country and only the second in an Ashes campaign.
Ricky Ponting's side join Warwick Armstrong's Australian side of 1920-21 as the only team to have beaten the old enemy 5-0 in an Ashes series.
The victory will also give Warne, McGrath, Langer and also coach John Buchanan - who is overseeing his last test in charge - the perfect farewell gift.
McGrath and Warne finished their test careers with 563 and 708 wickets respectively, and also clocked up 1001 between them in the 104 tests they played together.
McGrath chalked up the pair's milestone when he bowled Sajid Mahmood for four.
Ponting gave Warne his final overs of his test career when he brought the legspinner on to a rapturous applause from another big crowd.
England's last meaningful resistance was ended when McGrath had Kevin Pietersen caught behind from the third ball of the day, having failed to add to his overnight 29.
Monty Panesar was then run out for a duck from a direct hit by Andrew Symonds, who knocked out middle stump.
Brett Lee (three for 39) chimed in with the wicket of Chris Read (four).
- AAP