Friday's Ashes gossip column and media reaction

UK NEWSPAPER HEADLINES

"Watching ruthless England crush the shambolic Aussies has been a blast", roars former England captain Sir Ian Botham in the Daily Mirror. "I've waited a while for this and boy, do they deserve to celebrate what they have done in Australia."
Full story: Daily Mirror

Former England all-rounder Derek Pringle, cricket correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, reports that "the joy after Australia's 24-year monopoly on their home turf was there for all to see as the team went into a huddle and danced on the grave of Australian dominance."
Full report: Daily Telegraph

SCG = Strauss Celebrates Glory is the Daily Mail's new acronym for the Sydney Cricket Ground. "It was an unprecedented home disaster at the hands of an England team who have totally and utterly outplayed them. Shout it from the rooftops. England have a cricket team to be proud of while Australia are about to embark on the sort of soul searching that has been an English preserve for far too long."
Read more: Daily Mail

"Power Urn The Glory" is the Sun's headline - while man of the series Alastair Cook is "hailed as cricket's very own Frank Lampard" by his former Essex skipper Ronnie Irani, while his former school coach and ex-England batsman Derek Randall remembers how the left-hander came to Bedford School on a music scholarship.
Full story: the Sun

The Guardian feels "this was a surreal end to an Ashes series - a party for England, a funeral for Australia, peopled by several thousand hoarse and harmless drunks, and a smattering of reluctant, stunned mourners."
Full story: the Guardian

Meanwhile, James Lawton in the Independent feels "Australia grew smug and negligent, and the result is shown in the ruins of their game. Maybe the likes of Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith will raise the banner again some time soon, but it is not something you want to bet on - certainly not in the shadow of an England who have plainly moved into a superior league."
Read more: the Independent

AUSSIE NEWSPAPER HEADLINES

"OUR WORST XI" was the Sydney Morning Herald's headline on day five. "Australia's Test team must take some more bitter medicine before it again becomes competitive with the world's best teams, let alone dominant," writes Will Brodie, listing a 10-point plan to rebuild the side. "Unless Australia takes the short-term pain to blood several youngsters with the right techniques and temperaments, it will be consigned to a sustained period of mediocrity."
Read more: Sydney Morning Herald

"Australia is not scheduled to play Test cricket again until a tour of Sri Lanka in August, and by then the team is likely to have a different look," is the view of Malcolm Conn in the Australian - by which time he expects injured skipper Ricky Ponting to return at number six in the order.
Full report: the Australian

Former Australia batsman Dean Jones calls on Cricket Australia to hire his old skipper Steve Waugh as coach in the Herald Sun. "All the coaches around Australia have never played for Australia," fumes Jones, who also warns: "I don't think we've hit rock bottom yet."
Full story: Herald Sun

And on Twitter, several retired Aussie legends such as Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Damien Martyn are gracious in defeat. "Be proud of the history made and enjoy the moment," says Martyn, who retired midway through the 2006/07 series.

This story is updated throughout the day.