SYDNEY FIVE-FER: DAY FOUR

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McGrath removes Pietersen in the first over.

By Dave Tickner

1. Glenn McGrath
What a great final day in Test cricket for Pigeon, effectively securing victory as early as the third delivery when he enticed Kevin Pietersen into an edge behind. Took three wickets on the day, and the low nip-backer to get Saj Mahmood must rank among the most unplayable deliveries he's bowled in his astonishing career. Pietersen has at times treated McGrath with contempt in this series, so to get England's best player twice in the final Test will have been particularly sweet for McGrath.

2. Brett Lee
Has bowled admirably in this series without luck, but in this match finally got the rewards his bowling has deserved and ends up with a highly-respectable 20 wickets for the series. There will always be times when he leaks runs, skidding onto the bat at high pace, but in this Test he has shown the ability to stifle runs as well as take wickets. With Warne and McGrath on the way out, Lee will suddenly become the senior bowler in the side and his career is entering a crucial stage. His career average is still the wrong side of 30, but he has the time to put that right.

3. Bowling as a team
England did it in 2005, Australia did it this time around. Lee's dismissal of Chris Read on the final day meant all four of Australia's main bowlers ended the series with at least 20 wickets. No England bowler took more than Matthew Hoggard's 13.

4. Shane Warne
Still managed to get involved on a short final day in Test cricket, and should have had the final wicket when Steve Harmison was inexplicably spared by the third umpire when clearly stumped. Warne complained of stiffness yesterday, and there was plenty of evidence of it at first slip, with one James Anderson edge nutmegging the Victorian, while Ricky Ponting had dived across Warne to catch Read before the great leggie had moved.

5. Justin Langer
His final Test innings was fitting in so many ways as he helped Australia to a facile victory, and not least because he took a few painful blows on the body during a hostile opening spell from Harmison. He also neatly summed up how England have got things wrong in this series when noting that it was Harmison's best spell of the series.