England 238 & 330 beat Australia 270 & 224 by 74 runs Scorecard
Man of the match: Stuart Broad (11-121)
ENGLAND confirmed their current dominance of the Ashes rivalry by taking a 3-0 series lead at the Riverside following a brilliant Stuart Broad spell of 6-20 in 43 balls.
Broad took 11 wickets in the match altogether and precipitated an Aussie collapse on the fourth evening from 120-1 at tea to 224 all out, as the joyous hosts won by 74 runs.
Of course, after a tight win at Trent Bridge and a thrashing at Lord's, England had already retained the Ashes with an underwhelming draw in rainy Manchester.
But, this time in Chester-le-Street, the feeling of an outright win was rather better as man of the match Broad burst through the tail to bring an enthralling fourth Test to a perfect climax.
Once again, though, it was far from a straightforward victory - and, overall, this match was another superb advertisement for Test cricket, right from the moment England won the toss and chose to bat under leaden skies.
Despite that, and the early departure of Joe Root, Alastair Cook looked more solid than recently and the skipper made it to lunch with Jonathan Trott on 57-1.
However, the afternoon went in the Aussies' favour as Trott (49) and Cook (51) were followed by Kevin Pietersen (26) being trapped lbw by Nathan Lyon.
The spinner was achieving little turn but, nevertheless, continued to good effect after tea, removing Ian Bell for a surprisingly low score of six and the careless Jonny Bairstow for 17.
Bairstow's shot was a horrible sweep across the line to a ball which did not turn - and, with Prior also gone to Peter Siddle, the tail was left exposed.
Tim Bresnan and James Anderson somehow got through to the second morning but, as I watched from the stands enjoying my first taste of Test cricket, the pair added no more runs to leave England on 238 all out.
It seriously looked like another under-par effort again, though England could at least take some heart that the first innings scores in the five County Championship matches at Chester-le-Street in 2013 had averaged just 253.
Take heart, the bowlers certainly did, with Broad particularly impressive to snaffle the early wickets of David Warner for three, Usman Khawaja for a duck, and captain Michael Clarke for six.
Australia were looking rather vulnerable and it could have got even worse if Broad had also successfully managed to remove opener Chris Rogers.
Indeed, on this matter, England were slightly unfortunate. Hawk-eye suggested that Rogers was out lbw, having not hit the ball - but the hosts had appealed and been wrongly given caught behind.
The decision was overturned at the request of Rogers's review and the 35-year-old would ultimately score one of the streakiest centuries with edges here, there and everywhere.
Nevertheless, on day two, it could not be denied that Australia had picked up where they left off at Old Trafford and taken control of the game. Shane Watson, down the order, joined Rogers in a stand of 129 for the fifth wicket as the Aussies eyed a decent lead.
But, Watson - ever the unreliable - was caught behind shortly before a ridiculously curtailed day for bad light and his wicket gave England renewed hope of restricting their first innings deficit.
The bowlers duly did strike back on day three as Graeme Swann, with the old ball, and Anderson, with the new one, took two wickets apiece before Broad (5-71) completed his five-fer with an lbw against Ryan Harris.
Harris then exacted revenge as the hosts' top order failed again with Root, Cook and Trott all out early to leave England on 49-3, for a paltry lead of just 17.
Enter Warwickshire batsman Bell. Not content with making two centuries in this Ashes series, the 31-year-old compiled another to join Maurice Leyland in 1934 and David Gower in 1985 as the only Englishmen to make three tons in a home Ashes series.
Refreshingly, Bell found company from Pietersen (44) and Bairstow (28), with whom he shared stands of 106 and 66 - but it was Bresnan who would aid him to three figures.
England thus resumed the fourth, and ultimately final, day on 234-5 but the excellent seven-wicket Harris, all rested up, was able to make early inroads, accounting for Bell and the disappointing Prior who was out first ball.
Bresnan, meanwhile, somehow survived a close lbw shave and then took advantage, swinging the bat to make 45 while enjoying vital partnerships with Broad (13) and Swann, who finished 30 not out.
A much improved batting performance, then, had taken England to 330 and set a target of 299 for Australia to get a score on the board and keep alive their hopes of a series draw.
Surely, It was far too much on this pitch, though?
Well, apparently not, as Rogers (49) and Warner (71) put on more than 100 for the first wicket, the first Aussie openers to do that in any Ashes match since the Oval in 2005.
By tea, Swann had finally got the better of Rogers - but, even after this, Australia were in with a real shout on 168-2.
Then, the mainstay of the innings, Warner, was caught behind off Bresnan - and the Aussies suddenly collapsed in dramatic fashion. 168-3 became 174-4, 175-5, 179-6 and 181-7 as neither Clarke, Steve Smith, Watson or Brad Haddin hung around for long.
All but Watson's wicket had been taken by Broad - and, with the bit very much between his teeth, he set up an extra half hour by removing Australia's real last hope Harris for 11.
Meanwhile, from a personal perspective, Broad had progressed to nine wickets in the match and looked likely to get his 10th when Lyon edged, only for Swann to fumble in the slips.
Riled up, Broad decided to take his destiny into his own hands, and rearranged Lyon's furniture to achieve only his second 10-fer. More importantly, he had put England on the brink.
It seemed only right that Broad would get to finish the match but that looked in some doubt as receding light forced umpire Aleem Dar to request the Notts paceman be removed from the attack.
Spin from both ends, with Root operating alongside Swann, still seemed to be doing the trick until Prior completed a poor Test for him by missing a regulation run out chance.
However, England's moment would soon come again - and, as the sun cracked through the grey clouds overhead, the light had improved sufficiently to see the reintroduction of Broad.
It was almost 8pm by then, but applying the coup de grace did not take Broad long. In fact, it took just three balls before he induced Siddle into chipping meekly to Anderson at mid-off.
Magnificent - and yet another British success to celebrate in a second consecutive magical summer of sport.
Of course, for the England cricketers, the drab Old Trafford draw made it seem as if this year's Ashes success would be tinged by a sense of anti-climax.
And that underwhelming feeling would have been even worse if Australia had managed somehow to level the series at 2-2.
Indeed, for the first half of this fourth Test, the Aussies were on top again. It was all a far cry from comments that they were the worst touring Australian side in Ashes history.
But what cannot be denied is that England currently have more depth of talent than Australia. This is particularly true of the respective bowling attacks and England have made this significant difference count all the way through the series.
If Anderson is not swinging it, then Swann will find some turn. Or Broad will produce a ferocious spell of line and length.
Moreover, Yorkshire tyke Bresnan would surely be better than a mere support bowler in a less blessed team while the likes of Chris Tremlett and Graham Onions have not even had a look in.
For sure, the batting is currently a problem with Cook, Root and Trott all struggling at the top of the order - but, even assessed on this criteria, England lead Australia by five centuries to two.
Bell, of course, rather helps that statistic - but, then that is exactly what he is in the team to do. It was not always thus, and Bell notoriously struggled against Australia early in his international career.
Also, as BBC correspondent Jonathan Agnew noted, there was an "old theory that Bell only scored runs when his team-mates had done the same".
Now, never again should that argument be put towards him. With England in trouble before each of his three tons, Bell's 18th, 19th and 20th Test centuries are surely his very best, even if - incredibly - none of them has been rewarded with man of the match honours.
At the same time, though, it would be just as harsh to deny Broad the champagne on this occasion. Indeed, while this was a moment for the whole England team to savour, it was sweetest of all for the seamer.
"Nine wickets in a session, the crowd and everything that went with that today – the excitement, obviously the nerves at the beginning – that was the moment," confirmed beaming captain Cook.
He added: "We're going to get greedy I think – we're going to try and repeat that at The Oval. But we can think about that with sore heads tomorrow and enjoy what was a very special day and one which I'm certainly going to look back on with huge fondness."
Well, I say to Cook - be ruthless and be greedy. After all, as a kid growing up the 1990s, this England fan is not bored of handing out beatings to the Aussies on the cricket field just yet.
THE ASHES 2013
FIXTURES
| 10-14 July | First Test: England 215 & 375 beat Australia 280 & 296 by 14 runs | Trent Bridge |
| 18-21 July | Second Test: England 361 & 349-7dec beat Australia 128 & 235 by 347 runs | Lord's |
| 1-5 August | Third Test: Australia 527-7dec & 172-7dec drew with England 368 & 37-3 | Old Trafford |
| 9-13 August | Fourth Test: England 238 & 330 beat Australia 270 & 224 by 74 runs | Riverside |
| 21-25 August | Fifth Test | The Oval |
CENTURIES
187 Michael Clarke (Australia), third Test
180 Joe Root (England), second Test
113 Kevin Pietersen (England), third Test
113 Ian Bell (England), fourth Test
110 Chris Rogers (Australia), fourth Test
109 Ian Bell (England), first Test
109 Ian Bell (England), second Test
FIVE-WICKET HAULS (~ 10 wickets in the match)
7-117 Ryan Harris (Australia), fourth Test
~6-50 Stuart Broad (England), fourth Test
5-44 Graeme Swann (England), second Test
5-50 Peter Siddle (Australia), first Test
~5-71 Stuart Broad (England), fourth Test
5-72 Ryan Harris (Australia), second Test
~5-73 James Anderson (England), first Test
~5-85 James Anderson (England), first Test
5-159 Graeme Swann (England), third Test
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