Already two up in the series, England headed to Old Trafford Manchester for the third Test match in confident mood, but weather was to play its part in denying the Australians victory as it transpired.
Australia won the toss and chose to bat, taking full advantage of the best of the conditions to declare on 527/7. Captain Michael Clarke scored 187, Steven Smith 89 and Chris Rogers 84, before Brad Haddin and Mitchell Starc both made unbeaten scores of 60 plus.
England, in reply, lost early wickets, but Kevin Pietersen's 113 and Ian Bell’s 60 helped partially rescue the situation. They were eventually all out for 368.
Second time round, Australia declared on 172/7, in the hope of forcing a result. However, with England 37/3 in their second innings, time ran out and they had to settle for a draw.
For the first time, an Ashes match was then staged at Chester-Le-Street, Durham.
The home fans saw England claim the win that sealed the series win, even though Australia had the better of the early exchanges. England won the toss and batted, but, despite 51 from Alastair Cook, they were bowled out for 238, Nathan Lyon taking 4-42.
For Australia, although Rogers made 110 and Shane Watson 68, only one other batter got into double figures as they were dismissed for 270, Stuart Broad taking 5-71.
When England batted for a second time, it was Bell who was the star for them, scoring 113 out of 330, Ryan Harris claiming 7-117.
Set 299 to win, England were bowled out for 224, despite 71 from David Warner. Their last eight wickets fell for just 44 runs. Broad took 6-50 this time to finish with match figures of 11-121.
Unfortunately, bad weather badly affected the Fifth test at The Oval. Rain ruined all of Day 4, and and delayed starts and early curtailments on several other days.
Australia won the toss and declared on 492/9, largely thanks to 176 from Shane Watson and an unbeaten 138 from Smith. England were then bowled out for 377, Joe Root top-scoring with 68, while Kevin Pietersen made 50.
Australia then declared on 111/6, hoping to force a consolation win, but it was not to be. Pietersen (62) and Jonathan Trott (59) helped them reach 206/5 before the umpires removed the bails.
The draw meant that England had won the series by three matches to nil.