England survive Melbourne mayhem to claim drought-breaking win

MELBOURNE, Dec 27 : England ‌celebrated their first test win in Australia in 15 years at a sunbathed Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday as their batters chased down 175 runs to secure a four-wicket victory within two frenzied days of the fourth Ashes test.

Though the hosts had already locked away the urn with two matches to spare, Ben Stokes's men gave their travelling army of fans belated cheer in a hitherto one-sided series.

Their nerves were jangling when England were reduced to 165 for six but Harry Brook and Jamie Smith held on, with the winning run brought up with four leg byes off Mitchell Starc.

It was England's first test victory in Australia since Andrew Strauss's team thumped the hosts by an innings and 83 runs at the Sydney Cricket ‌Ground in the fifth test of the 2010/11 Ashes.

"To lose the series is obviously very disappointing, but I ‌think it was really important that we showed a lot of character for the rest of the series, and there's been a lot thrown at this team and the way that we responded throughout these two days has been excellent," said England batter Joe Root.

The victory came despite England being on the back foot early on day two, with paceman Gus Atkinson soon out of service with a hamstring strain after Australia resumed with a 46-run lead and 10 wickets in hand.

But with the help of a sporting pitch and some injudicious Australian batting, the tourists routed the hosts for 132 in 34.3 overs midway through the second session.

It was over to England's ‍batters to carry the team to victory and they did it in some style.

After a largely dismal series, the top order functioned with three batters making vital contributions.

Zak Crawley (37) and Ben Duckett (34) set the tone, racing to a 51-run