Spin cycle: the day Australia's tweakers wrung 23 wickets out

Has there ever been a day quite like it for Australian spin bowling?

Before you all start shouting with standout moments and performances from the game's history, some of which are, of course, obvious, that first sentence is meant as a reference to the collective.

On Saturday, at the MCG and in Galle, Australia spinners took 23 wickets across two Tests that ran in almost complete parallel, right down to the winning moments that came roughly 90 seconds apart.

There was something for everyone, too: a world-class legspinner landing it on a dime, two offspinners at the top of their game and a left-armer who, only a couple of weeks before, had had his thumb broken.

It started in Galle with Matt Kuhnemann running through Sri Lanka's lower order. It's fair to say there will be times he'll have to work harder, given some of the gifts offered to him by the home side, but to even be on the field was quite remarkable after needing surgery following the blow he took in the BBL on January 16.

As the men started to make inroads into Sri Lanka's second innings, spin took centre stage at the MCG. First it was Ash Gardner, soon to be joined by Alana King. From the moment the pair started operating in tandem in the 23rd over, they were not separated.

Gardner broke some English resistance when Heather Knight turned a catch to short leg. Five overs later, King slid one into Nat Sciver-Brunt's pads. It felt inevitable that England wouldn't survive the day; now it was a case of watching King weave the magic.

In her next over she produced a delivery that will be replayed for years to come: drifting outside leg stump, then ripping past Sophia Dunkley's outside edge to take the top of off stump. Ball after ball she was a threat; sometimes all an England batter could offer was a wry smile.

Gardner wasn't to be outdone either. Her bowling has developed to such an extent that it is now as important to the Australia side as her batting. With the last ball before dinner she removed Amy Jones with the one that went straight on for the second time in the Test.

At the MCG, it was a race to see who would claim a five-wicket haul and a place on the honours board. Meanwhile, between two continents, it was a race to see which Australia side would win first; when a wicket fell in one place, almost on cue, one fell in the other.

In Sri Lanka it was Kuhnemann and the GOAT, Nathan Lyon, doing the work. Lyon, on the ground where he started his Test career with a first-ball wicket in 2011, claimed No. 546.

Back in Melbourne, there were smiles and a few laughs when King claimed her fourth with a huge full toss that was heaved to deep midwicket. Then Gardner levelled the five-for hunt when she bounced out Sophie Ecclestone, King taking the catch to help her mate, but perhaps not herself.

Both Test matches were at nine down. But while Sri Lanka's tail swung, England's blocked… and blocked. King's legbreaks kept beating the edge. Darcie Brown lost a ball in the lights, another was clipped into short leg on the full. Hands on heads.

And then, finally, Lauren Filer chipped the ball to short mid-on. King had her five. In front of the Shane Warne stand. Australia had won the Ashes 16-0.

Less than two minutes later, Jeffery Vandersay skied Kuhnemann into the off side to give him his ninth wicket and Australia their biggest ever victory over Sri Lanka. It capped a day where Australia's spinners could do no wrong.