Australia win fourth Ashes by eigth wicket
Australia cruised to an eight-wicket win over demoralised England with more than a day to spare on Sunday to claim a 4-0 series lead and stand on the cusp of an Ashes whitewash.
Led by a century from opener
Chris Rogers and a 136-run stand with Shane Watson, the Australians had
few problems getting the required 201 runs on the fourth day to seal
England's fate at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
England contributed to their own demise with two confidence-sapping dropped catches by skipper Alastair Cook early in the day to take all the steam out of the dispirited tourists.
The two fielding blunders from the team leader were psychological body blows for England and evidence of batsman Kevin Pietersen's comments on Saturday in a television interview that the tourists were "mentally fragile".
England now face the monumental challenge of fighting off an Australian clean sweep of the series in the fifth and final Test, starting in Sydney on Friday.
Playing on his home ground, veteran left-hander Rogers claimed his second Test century after scoring 110 against England in the last series earlier this year at Durham.
Rogers, 36, was out caught behind for 116 off 155 balls cutting Monty Panesar, with his team some 31 runs short of victory.
At the end, Watson was unbeaten on 83 with skipper Michael Clarke not out six with Australia 231 for two.
It was the best fourth innings run chase in 51 years at the Melbourne Cricket Ground since England's 237 for three in 1962-63.
While England have been on the end of heavy defeats this Test series, Sunday was a particularly dispiriting loss for England, who were well on top and led the home side by 116 with 10 wickets in hand after lunch on Saturday's third day.
Man-of-the-match Mitchell Johnson and spinner Nathan Lyon staged a dramatic turnaround, with England bowled out for 179, leaving Australia with what became a comfortable task of scoring 231 in more than two days for victory.
It was Australia's fourth consecutive win over England and comes four months after they lost the last series 3-0 in England.
