WHEN England regained the Ashes with a 2-1 home series victory in 2009, there was something not quite satisfying enough about it.
Of course, it was well-established that the 2009 series did not have the lustre of the 2005 campaign when England won the Ashes for the first time in 18 years amid a dramatic series of matches.
Additionally, neither of the sides were as strong as they had been.
England were still rebuilding after the 2006-07 whitewash while Australia had only just begun to deal with the retirements of Justin Langer, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath among others.
But - whisper it gently - this post shows, the weakened Aussies actually dominated the statistics in the 2009 series.
Australia's batsmen made eight centuries in the five Tests as compared to England's two while the top three bowlers were all Australian with Ben Hilfenhaus leading the way on 22 wickets.
England had effectively scraped home on the strength of a last-wicket stand in Cardiff - though the overall result undoubtedly gave Andrew Strauss' squad the confidence to improve further.
Indeed, they have done - and, all the while, Australia have gone further and further backwards.
This 3-1 series win was the very definition of a thumping and, thankfully, England have the stats to back it up.
Man of the series Alastair Cook scored a remarkable 766 runs at an average of 127.66 and he was backed up by others in the batting order.
Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior all scored a century and averaged above 50 with the bat. Only Mike Hussey matched this standard for the Aussies.
The bowlers for England were just as dominant as the batsmen.
Four of the five top wicket-takers in the series were in the tourists' squad as James Anderson became the first English bowler since Frank Tyson in the 1950s to take 24 wickets in Australia.
In the early Tests, Anderson was backed up to good effect by Stuart Broad, Steven Finn and Graeme Swann as England risked playing only four frontline bowlers.
Though Broad (through injury) and Finn were then replaced, the supposed stand-ins Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan did even better.
The risk also paid off as part-time bowlers Pietersen and Paul Collingwood chipped in with wickets at vital moments.
Pietersen dismissed Michael Clarke with the last ball of the fourth day of the second Test to set up a final day collapse while Collingwood claimed the wicket of Hussey with his final ever Test delivery.
With the exception of Perth, England batted brilliantly as a unit, making a record of score of 644 as part of four occasions when they topped 500 runs.
By contrast, Australia's score of 481 in the first innings of the first Test would be the only time in the series that they would score more than 309.
Even in Perth, where England were uncharacteristically out twice for less than 200, Australia had also struggled early on, finding themselves 69-5 in the first innings.
It was also notable that Australia had to bat 10 times in the five Tests while England only had seven innings in all.
And, despite batting on fewer occasions, such was their dominance that England still scored 233 more runs than their hosts.
Indeed, on average, each England wicket was worth 51.14 runs whereas Australian wickets fell every 28.91 runs - a huge difference of 22.23 per wicket.
For now, Australians only have the history records with which to console themselves.
They still show a fine record for them of 10 wins and two draws from the 17 post-war Ashes series in Australia.
RESULTS SUMMARY
England won the series 3-1
First Test (Brisbane): England 260 & 517-1dec drew with Australia 481 & 107-1 Report
Second Test (Adelaide): England 620-5dec beat Australia 245 & 304 by an innings and 71 runs Report
Third Test (Perth): Australia 268 & 309 beat England 187 & 123 by 267 runs Report
Fourth Test (Melbourne): England 513 beat Australia 98 & 258 by an innings and 157 runs Report
Fifth Test (Sydney): England 644 beat Australia 280 & 281 by an innings and 83 runs Report
BEST BATTING AVERAGES
127.66 Alastair Cook (England)
89.00 Jonathan Trott (England)
65.80 Ian Bell (England)
63.33 Mike Hussey (Australia)
60.00 Kevin Pietersen (England)
50.40 Matt Prior (England)
48.33 Shane Watson (Australia)
45.00 Brad Haddin (Australia)
43.85 Andrew Strauss (England)
BEST BOWLING AVERAGES [minimum 10 overs bowled]
19.54 Tim Bresnan (England)
23.35 Chris Tremlett (England)
25.54 Ryan Harris (Australia)
26.04 James Anderson (England)
33.14 Steven Finn (England)
34.57 Peter Siddle (Australia)
36.50 Paul Collingwood (England)
36.93 Mitchell Johnson (Australia)
39.80 Graeme Swann (England)
MOST RUNS
766 Alastair Cook (England) best score: 235* in the first Test, Brisbane
570 Mike Hussey (Australia) 195 in the first Test, Brisbane
445 Jonathan Trott (England) 168* in the fourth Test, Melbourne
435 Shane Watson (Australia) 95 in the third Test, Perth
360 Kevin Pietersen (England) 227 in the second Test, Adelaide
360 Brad Haddin (Australia) 136 in the first Test, Brisbane
329 Ian Bell (England) 115 in the fifth Test, Sydney
307 Andrew Strauss (England) 110 in the first Test, Brisbane
252 Matt Prior (England) 118 in the fifth Test, Sydney
MOST WICKETS
24 James Anderson (England) best inns: 4-44 in the fourth Test, Melbourne
17 Chris Tremlett (England) 5-87 in the third Test, Perth
15 Mitchell Johnson (Australia) 6-38 in the third Test, Perth
15 Graeme Swann (England) 5-91 in the second Test, Adelaide
14 Steven Finn (England) 6-125 in the first Test, Brisbane
14 Peter Siddle (Australia) 6-54 in the first Test, Brisbane
11 Tim Bresnan (England) 4-50 in the fourth Test, Melbourne
11 Ryan Harris (England) 6-47 in the third Test, Perth
7 Ben Hilfenhaus (Australia) 3-121 in the fifth Test, Sydney
TEAM SCORES BY INNINGS
644 England in the fifth Test, Sydney
620-5 dec England in the second Test, Adelaide
517-1 dec England in the first Test, Brisbane
513 England in the fourth Test, Melbourne
481 Australia in the first Test, Brisbane
309 Australia in the third Test, Perth
304 Australia in the second Test, Adelaide
281 Australia in the fifth Test, Sydney
280 Australia in the fifth Test, Sydney
268 Australia in the third Test, Perth
260 England in the third Test, Brisbane
258 Australia in the fourth Test, Melbourne
245 Australia in the fourth Test, Adelaide
187 England in the third Test, Perth
123 England in the third Test, Perth
107-1 Australia in the first Test, Brisbane
98 Australia in the fourth Test, Melbourne
POST-WAR ENGLAND ASHES TOURS RECORD
5 matches per series unless stated
1946-47 Australia 3-0 England
1950-51 Australia 4-1 England
1954-55 England 3-1 Australia
1958-59 Australia 4-0 England
1962-63 Australia 1-1 England (Australia retain the Ashes)
1965-66 Australia 1-1 England (Australia retain the Ashes)
1970-71 England 2-0 Australia (from six Tests)
1974-75 Australia 4-1 England (from six Tests)
1978-79 England 5-1 Australia (from six Tests)
1982-83 Australia 2-1 England
1986-87 England 2-1 Australia
1990-91 Australia 3-0 England
1994-95 Australia 3-1 England
1998-99 Australia 3-1 England
2002-03 Australia 4-1 England
2006-07 Australia 5-0 England
2010-11 England 3-1 Australia
By series: Australia 10 England 5 Draws 2
Test wins: Australia 41 England 23 Draws 24
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