England seal superb series win

The joy and delight at winning the Ashes will surely go on for a long time yet but those pragmatic souls - the bookies - have already priced up the 2011 series and they make the Australians odds-on to regain the Urn by winning on home soil.

The Aussies are, to be exact, 4/7 to get the Ashes back while England can be backed at 13/5 with bet365, while a drawn series is a 9/2 shot. An awful lot can happen in two years and there will undoubtedly be several changes in personnel by then.

For now, though, England get to revel in a win that if not quite as heroic as 2005 - the Australia side of that year was infintely superior to this vintage and England were also better then.

However, this is the England cricket team we're talking about so it was no surprise that at one stage on day four, the murmurings about the possibility of an Australia win were beginning to get louder. In the end, the margin of victory was huge but the series was a nail-biter and it will be fascinating to see what happens to both sides from here.

How many of this Australia team will play in England in four years' time is anyone's guess and there will inevitably be a big de-brief Down Under, but even for England, who go to South Africa in the winter, there will be many players unsure of their spots.

The great thing for England is that they managed to win this series largely without the help of Kevin Pietersen while Andrew Flintoff performed heroics to get through it - and the one match he didn't play in, we lost. Replacing him will be vital to the future.

One other thing - those of you who took the advice to back England and to take the 2-1 scoreline should be feeling pretty happy right now. Congratulations!