Australia has won a thrilling fourth Test to retain the Ashes. The Aussies have taken an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series with one match left to play. Even an English win at The Oval and a 2-2 final result will see the tourists leave British shores with bragging rights because they won the last series Down Under in 2017/18.A happy Australian captain Tim Paine said, 'I didn't think it would be this emotional.

The amount of work that's gone into retaining the Ashes has been enormous and I'm really proud of this group and how we bounced back from Headingley.'  Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said  that the tourists' relentless bowlers deserve as much credit for retaining the Ashes as Steve Smith. The world's top-ranked Test batsman, Smith has been in superb form this Ashes with 671 runs, including three hundreds, at an average of 134.20. Smith made a commanding 211 in Australia's 185-run victory in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, a result that left them 2-1 up with just one to play ahead of next week's finale at The Oval. Hussain, the last England captain to fail to win an Ashes series on home soil in 2001, said the hosts could have no complaints given they had lost the opener by 251 runs and then only drawn level thanks to Ben Stokes's stunning century that secured a one-wicket win in the third Test at Headingley.

"There has been progress," said Hussain. "You can't fault the character and resilience of this England side. Other England sides would have just crumbled in a heap. "But the problem is they often find themselves 10 for two, 20 for two. "Against certain sides you can come back from that, but from nought for two last night against this Australian attack, you can't come back from that." "Let's be honest, if England had gone to The Oval at 1-1, I think it would have been a travesty," he added.