December 3: Unlike the previous four Tests of this Ashes series there was much about the opening day of this final match to remind one of fair dinkum Test cricket.
Stewart: I'm not quitting
Alec Stewart said he has no immediate plans to retire after spanking a half-century in the fifth Ashes Test against Australia.
Waugh: The defining moment of my career
Steve Waugh said his century in the final Ashes Test against England could be the defining moment of his brilliant career.
January 2: England's most capped player Alec Stewart has denied that the final Ashes Test is his cricketing swansong.
December 2002
England detect a ray of hope
January 1: No Shane Warne, no Glenn McGrath and possibly no Jason Gillespie: this is a scenario about which England can only have dreamed.
McGrath to miss fifth Test
Dec 31: England's hopes of averting a whitewash after their spirited late rally at the MCG will be lifted further by news that Glenn McGrath will miss the final Test in Sydney with a strain. The blouse.
Vaughan's epic earns England a fifth day
Dec 30: Nobody was rushing out to bet against Australia, but just by taking the Test into a fifth day Michael Vaughan restored pride - and he did so with another innings of such command over a quality attack that at times he took the breath away.