Brilliant England beat Australia - and the weather

England players, coaches and fans following the latest scores from Adelaide alike were all nervously watching the sky on the final morning of the second test.

A heavy rainstorm was predicted for the area and with England still requiring six wickets for victory, there was a very real chance the weather could, for once, work against England in an Ashes test.

However, despite the best efforts of Shane Warne and his rain dance the players awoke to blue skies in South Australia, meaning they had at least a session to try and work their way through the Aussie lower order.

In the end they only needed 90 minutes as the deadly combination of Steven Finn’s power, Jimmy Anderson’s swing and Graeme Swann’s spin rattled through the Aussie batting line up with the addition of just 66 runs.

Unbridled joy swept through the Adelaide Oval - again almost solely occupied by England supporters – with each passing wicket.

The stay-away Australian supporters’ lack of faith in their side proved well placed when last man Peter Siddle was clean bowled by Graeme Swann with still an hour of the morning session to play.

Queue another string of re-written records – England’s 100th Test victory against Australia, their first win against them by an innings for 24 years, only their ninth in 30 Tests at Adelaide and Australia’s
first innings defeat at home since 1993.

Those often following the cricket live scores believe that it is a win that symbolises a turn in the tide in England Australia relations. For a generation England were made to suffer at the hands of a brilliantly ruthless and destructive Australian team. There were more batting collapses, series defeats and ritual humiliations than I would care to count. Today is England’s long awaited wait for revenge.

The win was made even sweeter when the rain did eventually arrive just after lunch, the puddles on the pitch by late afternoon confirmation that England’s bowlers did the job just in time.

The only negative to what was a pretty much perfect display from Andy Flower’s men was an injury to Stuart Broad, who will miss the rest of the series with a stomach muscle strain. But with a clutch of bowlers itching to take his place England have a great chance of picking up where they left off at the Waca in a fortnight’s time.