A one-sided Ashes, but Australia's memories of Scott Boland, Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green make for a special series

So it ends. Certainly not with a bang, but is it possible to offer something less than a whimper?

One more English collapse for the road. Another Australian victory within three days. A 4-0 Ashes series win secured.

Just when it was fair to hope for a finish of some substance, England reverted to type and self-immolated. This might have been the worst of the lot, as it only took a gust of wind to take England from a potentially winning position to complete disgrace.

And to think, until tea England was enjoying probably their best day of the series. Mark Wood blew a hole in the Australian batting line-up with pure pace and aggression and the English openers combined to lay a perfectly sound platform.

Two hours later the series was over.

The Melbourne collapse had a sense of wonder to it, sparked by the incredible feats of Scott Boland and the wider context of the series. This one was just depressing.

England lost 10 wickets for 56 runs, each dismissal weaker than the last. The Australians celebrated with a sheepishness that speaks to the lack of competitiveness in this series, and certainly not to the decades of heated Ashes contests that preceded it.

The fortunate thing is history won't remember the flatness of this finale, but instead the many little stories that made the summer compelling in spite of the scorelines.

The tale of Scott Boland will resound the strongest. The figures will stand out in the retelling — 18 wickets at 9.55 — but still won't do the man justice.

By the final day of the series it felt like Boland had been terrorising England for years, not three weeks. His bowling, like the man himself, is understated and uncomplicated but proved completely perfect for the conditions and opposition at hand.

The only