Australia's media today hailed their cobbled together bunch of rejects and recycled players for their decimation of England in a crushing Ashes series whitewash.
Michael Clarke's Australians inflicted a comprehensive 281-run victory in just three days in the final Sydney Test on Sunday to become only the third Australian side to thrash England 5-0 in a series.
"Never before in 137 years of Test cricket has Australia decimated England so completely, winning the fifth Test inside three days to finish with all 100 English wickets in a series for the first time," The Sydney Daily Telegraph's Malcolm Conn said.
"And they did it as the Unchangeables, taking the same XI players through all five Tests after the selectors recalled man of the series Mitchell Johnson, 32, and his closest rival for the award, Brad Haddin."
The Australian newspaper's Peter Lalor said the whitewash was special because "nothing remotely similar was expected of this lot".
"Clarke's men had lost 4-0 in India and then 3-0 in England a few months back. It has sacked a coach, auditioned more batsmen and bowlers than a television talent contest and navigated a path as bleak as any travelled by an Australian team," he wrote.
"England won a handful of sessions but was soundly beaten from Brisbane to Sydney.
"The home side did it with a reconstituted opener in Chris Rogers, a resurrected bowler in Mitchell Johnson, a reappointed wicket-keeper in Brad Haddin and a rediscovered sense of how to play cricket the Australian way.
