PASS THE AMBER NECTAR

Late to the party, but England finally turn up to win first Test Down Under in 15 years

- BY RORY DOLLARD

CAPTAIN Ben Stokes marked the end of England's 15-year winless streak in Australia by sharing “a little hug” and a few words of relief with former skipper Joe Root.

Stokes will not be bringing the urn back home after defeats in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide, but he is also leaving an unwanted record behind after overseeing England's first away Ashes victory since January 2011.

After two days of pandemonium on a batting graveyard in Melbourne – 36 wickets tumbling inside six sessions and no half-centuries in an Australian Test for the first time since 1932 – it was England who finished on top on this occasion,

At times, it may have felt like a lottery on an unreliable MCG pitch but, in chasing down 175 with four wickets in hand, it was England who held the winning ticket.

Of the 18-match drought spanning four separate tours, Root had featured 17 times and captained 10, with Stokes empty-handed from 13.

After they embraced at the close, Stokes said: “At the end there, when all the boys came out of the dressing room, we had a little hug and just said, ‘Finally, we've won one’.