543 balls, 20 wickets

England were bowled out twice in 90.3 overs in the Sydney Test. Stats highlights from another rout

05-Jan-2014

Mitchell Johnson roared in on the second morning, Australia v England, 5th Test, Sydney, 2nd day, January, 4, 2014

Click here for Australia's batting and bowling averages in the series, and here for England's.

Australia's 5-0 victory is only the third such rout in an Ashes series, with all three such verdicts going in favour of Australia on their home soil: they had previously beaten England 5-0 in 1920-21 and 2006-07.

Overall, it is Australia's fifth such series verdict against any opposition - they have also beaten West Indies (2000-01) and South Africa (1931-32) by 5-0 margins. For England too, it's the fifth time they've been thrashed by a 5-0 margin - they suffered two such beatings versus West Indies in the 1980s.

England's second innings in Sydney lasted just 31.4 overs, their tenth-lowest ever against Australia. Eight of those were before 1910. Over the last 100 years and more, this is the second-lowest, after the 28.2 overs in which they were bowled out at the Gabba in 2002-03. Since 1910, England have been bowled out in fewer overs only five times by any opposition.

England lost 20 wickets in 543 balls in this Test; in other words, they batted 90.3 overs - which is three balls over a regular day's play - and were bowled out twice. Since 1910, only once have they lost 20 in fewer deliveries: against West Indies in Kingston in 1986, they lasted 530 deliveries and were bowled out for 159 and 152. Against West Indies at Edgbaston in 1995, they lost 19 wickets in 446 balls - Alec Stewart didn't bat in the second innings because of an injury.

England's average of 21.58 runs per wicket is their fifth-lowest in a series since 1910; two of those have happened in the last couple of years - against Pakistan in the UAE in 2012, they averaged 19.06 over three Tests, their lowest in a series during this period.

Australia's batsmen averaged 41.41 runs per wicket over the entire series, compared to England's 21.58. The difference of 19.83 between the two averages is the seventh-highest in any Ashes series. When Australia won 5-0 in 2006-07 the difference in averages was 26.42, while England averaged 21.91 more than Australia when they won 3-1 in 2010-11.

Mitchell Johnson's series haul of 37 wickets is the ninth-highest in an Ashes series, but the fifth-best in a five-Test contest. Jim Laker's 46 in five Tests in 1956 is the highest in any Ashes, while the best for Australia in a five-Test Ashes is Shane Warne's 40 in England in 2005. Johnson's 37 is the best by an Australia bowler in a five-Test Ashes series in Australia.

Johnson's 37 wickets also equals the record series haul by a left-arm fast bowler - Australia's Bill Whitty took 37 against South Africa in 1910-11.

Among bowlers who have bowled at least 1000 balls in an Ashes series, Johnson's average of 13.97 is the third-best, next only to Laker (9.60 in 1956) and Rodney Hogg (12.85 in 1978-79).

Ryan Harris' 5 for 25 is his fourth five-for in 12 Tests against England; out of his 93 Test wickets, 57 have come against England at an average of 20.63.

England's top five didn't score a single century in the series - the only hundred for the team came from Ben Stokes, batting at No.6. It's only the second such instance for England in an Ashes series of five or more Tests since 1900 - the previous instance was in 1972 in England, when their top five averaged 25.13, and scored four fifties in 48 innings. Here, they averaged 25.57, and scored nine fifties in 50 innings.

Australia's batsmen, on the other hand, scored ten hundreds in the series, which equals their record for an Ashes series. They also scored ten in 1920-21, 1946-47 and in 1993.

The 5-0 series drubbing has pushed Australia up to No. 3 in the ICC's Test rankings, while England have slipped to No. 4.

Mitchell Johnson Ryan Harris Australia England Australia vs England England tour of Australia

S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. Follow him on Twitter