Australia romped their way to a comprehensive victory over England inside three days at Melbourne to cap off a perfect year of 10 victories in 10 Test matches. They now lead the Ashes series 4-0 after England collapsed to lose by an innings and 99 runs.

After dismissing the Australians for 419 and surviving to lunch without loss, England once again embarrassed themselves with the bat, losing all ten wickets in the final two sessions to some fine disciplined bowling.

If the MCG Test was Shane Warne’s party, then England was the drunken uncle who arrives half-cut, downs three bottles in no time, makes a fool of himself in front of a large gathering of family and friends and is then forced to call it a night by 8.30. This was embarrassing and England deserve to be slammed every bit as much as Australia deserved to be praised for their performance.

From the outset it should be said that the Australian quartet of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Shane Warne bowled superbly, finding a good rhythm, hitting the spot and barely bowling any bad balls. But what would be most galling for English fans was the complete lack of fight their team offered.

Only Andrew Strauss and Chris Read offered anything resembling resistance on a pitch that had settled down and was at its best for batting. And the tourists’ unwillingness to force themselves on the game was compounded by the Australians, who choked up the runs with some fine disciplined bowling and at times brilliant fielding.

Stuart Clark, the man many expect to lead the Australian attack in the post-Warne/Glenn McGrath era, was magnificent once again, finding the right line and length from the outset but also getting and controlling reverse swing. Clark started the rout by taking the wicket of Alastair Cook and putting the Aussies in the box seat by bowling danger-man Kevin Pietersen with a peach of a delivery.

With England at a precarious 90 for four at tea, Brett Lee and Warne took control for the Aussies to clean up the remaining English batsmen, the pair taking five of the six wickets to fall after tea. Lee bowled with some real pace and venom, regularly reaching the 145km/h mark. Maybe the only criticism that could be made of Lee is that at times he tried too hard to bowl fast and as a result sprayed a few deliveries.

Warne, as a farewell present to his Melbourne fans, brought out his whole box of tricks with great effect, even the flipper making a welcome reappearance to trap Steve Harmison in front.

Warne’s two second innings wickets have taken his Test and one-day international haul to 999 - which means that in his final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, he will be aiming to join Muttiah Muralitharan as the only bowler to have claimed over 1,000 international wickets.

At the completion of the game, Warne lapped up yet another standing ovation from the 79,000-strong crowd, the champ responding in kind, bowing and blowing kisses to the crowd before a futile attempt to chair him off the ground. It appears that Warne is too heavy to carry on one’s shoulders even if you’re strapping young lads like Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds. Warne then left the MCG arena as a player for the final time with fellow legend McGrath, his great bowling partner, at his side.

Even a maestro like Warne could not have scripted his farewell to the great amphitheatre that is the Melbourne Cricket Ground any better. His historic 700th wicket, his five-for in the first innings, his 40 not out that would be his highest at the ground and the man-of-the-match award for his efforts. All this in front of the largest crowds Test cricket has seen for generations.

Warne had the crowd eating out of the palms of his hands, eagerly watching his every move. Now all we have is the grand finale in Sydney. The question is, what kind of support act will England be?

Can England provide any meaningful opposition in the final Test - or is a 5-0 whitewash now a formality? Do the tourists need to make more changes and if so, who should they bring in? Your views and comments are most welcome.