Manchester: England retained the Ashes after rain meant the third Test against Australia at Old Trafford ended in a draw on Monday.
Only 20.3 overs were possible on the fifth and final day, but that was still long enough for England to collapse to 37 for three, having been set 332 to win after Australia declared on their overnight 172 for seven.
But England, 2-0 up in the five-match series after wins by 14 runs and 347 runs at Trent Bridge and Lord’s respectively, only had to draw this match to be sure of retaining the Ashes.
And they had the result they required when the match was abandoned as a draw at 4.39pm local time.
Earlier, Ryan Harris struck twice in quick succession to remove England captain Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott before Peter Siddle claimed the prize wicket of Kevin Pietersen.
However, the bad weather for which Old Trafford is infamous, but which had stayed away until Sunday, took charge.
At the close, England were 295 runs shy of the target, with Joe Root 13 not out and Ian Bell four not out.
Now the best Australia can hope for is to share the series 2-2.
Australia, at least, ended a run of six successive Test defeats, their worst for 29 years, and meant they avoided equalling their all-time record losing streak of seven set between 1885-88.
The next Test begins on Friday at Chester-le-Street. (AFP)
