Man of the match: Mitchell Johnson (5-63 & 3-25)
AUSTRALIA dismantled the very last vestiges of England's confidence after completing a eight-wicket victory in Melbourne to go 4-0 up in the series.
Shane Watson (83 not out) hit the winning runs as the Aussies set up an odds-on chance of a whitewash which would have been seen as a laughable impossibility just four month ago.
Undoubtedly, though, that says more about England than it ever will about Australia in this ongoing nightmare tour. Now the joke is well and truly on England.
Indeed, the sad decline of Alastair Cook's team has been swift and brutal in this bleak midwinter.
Yes, it cannot be denied that problems had been identified in the summer, namely England's continued inability to pass 400, but the team at least still knew how to win matches back then.
In Melbourne, as Cook candidly admitted afterwards, England proved in no uncertain terms that this is the case no longer - even when put in a favourable position.
Consider the fact that, at the close on day two at the MCG, Australia were 164-9, still 91 runs behind on England's first innings effort.
And that Michael Clarke's decision to field on winning a fourth straight toss appeared to have backfired as the Aussies, and David Warner in particular, batted with a certain hubris which looked set to be their downfall.
But then came day three, surely up there when considering the darkest recent days of English cricket history.
First, Brad Haddin was once again able to reduce the Aussie arrears by compiling a last-wicket stand with Nathan Lyon which was worth 40 runs.
In doing so, Haddin broke the Ashes record for the highest aggregate by a wicket-keeper. His current total of 390 - at 65, no less - beats Alec Stewart's 378 from 1993 with a match to spare.
Those extra runs with Lyon seemed to matter little, though, when captain Cook and fellow opener Michael Carberry neutralised those gains by making it to lunch unbeaten on 54-0 for a lead of 105.
Instead, the real nightmare came in the afternoon session as England collapsed not just once but twice.
With Cook (51) having already departed, lbw to Mitchell Johnson, the first collapse was triggered by Carberry being trapped in front by Peter Siddle with a ball from round the wicket having made 12 painstaking runs in two hours.
Carberry thus proved that England have still not found an opener to replace ex-captain Andrew Strauss who is now happily nestled in the SkySports commentary team.
Nick Compton was dropped for a similar scoring rate - and, while there is much to be said for occupying the crease, by refusing to rotate the strike, Carberry simply puts pressure on himself and the team.
It showed as 86-2 became 86-3 when Joe Root (15) went for a run that was never on, before Ian Bell equally brainlessly lofted Lyon straight to Johnson at mid-off with his first ball.
Kevin Pietersen, who had come under pressure between Tests for his carefree batting approach, then tried to take on the responsibility of repairing the innings.
Briefly, he found a sensible ally in Ben Stokes. Having scored just 19, though, the Durham all-rounder rather tossed his wicket away to become Lyon's second victim on what would be a momentous day for the off-spinner.
Jonny Bairstow - in for discarded vice-captain Matt Prior - also began with good intent, hitting two sixes to extend a record broken earlier by Haddin for the most hit in a single Ashes series.
However, the Yorkshireman also could not build on his start, and he needlessly clipped a wide Johnson delivery behind to Haddin on 21.
England were beginning to struggle on 173-6 but what then followed almost defied belief, even accounting for what has gone on over the past six weeks.
Tim Bresnan added to Bell's duck, swiping at Lyon but succeeding only in dragging the ball onto his own bails.
And then Stuart Broad departed without scoring to Lyon too, allowing the Aussie to celebrate a 100th Test wicket.
173-5 had become 174-8 in the blinking of an eye but England did not stop there.
Seemingly unable to trust James Anderson or Monty Panesar with blocking at the other end, Pietersen (49) felt obliged to charge down the pitch in a bid for some quick runs off Lyon.
Instead, he could only find Ryan Harris stalking the boundary at long-off as Lyon (5-50) celebrated the most unlikely of five-fers on a pitch that had offered barely any turn whatsoever.
Man of the match Johnson inevitably wound up proceedings by trapping Panesar lbw for a fourth duck in the innings as the tourists were bowled out for 179.
In all, England's last five wickets had fallen for six runs - and, combined with the earlier collapse of three wickets for one run, England lost eight for seven. Frankly, it was a complete disgrace.
With eight overs left in the day, Australia made serene progress towards their target of 231, finishing a remarkable third day on 30-0, leaving them with 201 to get.
But, such was the strength of England's earlier position, the statistics still gave them some hope.
Until today, the highest fourth innings Test run chase since the introduction of a drop-in pitch to the MCG had been 183.
Nevertheless, within an hour of play on this fourth and final day, England had effectively surrendered the match.
First, Warner got a second life when Bairstow froze to the spot and Cook grassed at first slip - then, shortly afterwards, Chris Rogers was reprieved following a quite unbelievable drop by Cook.
The England captain has much on his mind at present, clearly. It is just a shame that one of them is not catching the ball.
Cook subsequently baffled viewers by setting bizarrely negative fields which did nothing to stop the Aussies from scoring at more than four an over.
And his rotation of the bowlers left much to be desired. Broad - England's best bowler on the tour - took on just 10 overs while Root was twice preferred to Panesar in the absence of the retired Graeme Swann.
This was scrambled thinking at its very worst from Cook who is still an inexperienced captain.
He is also an unduly negative one, however - and, if heads somehow do not roll after this, he and head coach Andy Flower need a complete change of mindset to rebuild England's shattered confidence.
England are a "broken" team at present according to BBC Test Match Special summariser Jonathan Agnew, who noticed there was "no conversation between anyone" on the field.
Sidekick Geoffrey Boycott also went through the varying stages of the Kuebler-Ross model on grief.
He was at depression with his first comment: "The hardest decision Australia have had to make this morning is what to have for lunch" - before finally moving to acceptance.
"This is so disappointing and hurtful as a lover of English cricket.I don't mind losing but this is just a massacre," he added.
By contrast, the Aussies were understandably cock-a-hoop as Rogers recovered from a streaky start to record his second Test century, the eighth by the home side in this series. England have had still just one centurion, that being Stokes in Perth.
Even when Panesar found success to the most muted England celebrations ever, the joy continued for Australia when skipper Clarke, in his 101st match, became only the 27th player to reach 8,000 Test runs.
Oddly, it is a record which he shares exactly with his opposite number Cook - though, at 29 years and three days, the Englishman yesterday became the youngest ever to reach the milestone, younger even than Sachin Tendulkar.
Pietersen also passed the 8,000 runs mark within this match but, for the England pair, these individual achievements will feel utterly worthless, considering the mess which surrounds them.
Onto Sydney, this shambolic tour rolls then - with the singular aim of avoiding the whitewash.
The pack may be given another shuffle - will we see Garry Ballance at the expense of Carberry or one of the three giant seamers in place of Panesar or Bresnan?
Regardless of the selection, though, a second 5-0 whitewash in just seven years is surely on the cards.
After all, just shuffling a pack of 52 jokers will still not make a winning hand.
THE ASHES 2013/14
| 21-24 Nov | FIRST: Australia 295 & 401-7d beat England 136 & 179 by 381 runs | Brisbane |
| 5-9 Dec | SECOND: Australia 570-9d & 132-3d bt England 172 & 312 by 218 runs | Adelaide |
| 13-17 Dec | THIRD: Australia 385 & 369-6d beat England 251 & 353 by 150 runs | Perth |
| 26-29 Dec | FOURTH: Australia 204 & 231-2 beat England 255 & 179 by eight wkts | Melbourne |
| 3-7 Jan | FIFTH TEST | Sydney |
CENTURIES
148 Michael Clarke (Australia)
124 David Warner (Australia)
120 Ben Stokes (England)
118 Brad Haddin (Australia)
116 Chris Rogers (Australia)
113 Michael Clarke (Australia)
112 David Warner (Australia)
111 Steve Smith (Australia)
103 Shane Watson (Australia)
FIVE-WICKET HAULS
7-40 Mitchell Johnson (Australia)
6-81 Stuart Broad (England)
5-42 Mitchell Johnson (Australia)
5-50 Nathan Lyon (Australia)
5-63 Mitchell Johnson (Australia)
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