Winning in Australia is unforgettable but it is not the Holy Grail. England can become the best Test team on the planet – and win the World Cup while they're at it

With 2010 drawing to a close, we asked our sport correspondents to cast their minds back over the last 12 months in their specialist fields to recount their moment of the year.

After England's Ashes triumph, captain sets his sights on historic series victory

The Australian media pulled no punches yesterday, with one newspaper describing the capitulation on the first day of the fourth Test against England as "its worst cricketing day for 100 years".

The fans streaming away from the vast ground made a withering statement about thestate of the match and the wretchedness of Australia's performance

It is a big Australian party, but not quite what an outsider would expect. In a Sydney park, there is an evening concert: carols, local youth groups, the cast of Tap Dogs, a Kylie (but not the Kylie). Wearing little Santa hats and jackets, families set up their picnics in the sunny afternoon, turning the park into a field of red. There will be big crowds later, and a few mounted police officers are on the streets nearby, their horses sporting toy reindeer antlers.

If Perth is any indication, the MCG will be a cauldron of nastiness and abuse. The Melbourne crowd has a reputation for handing it out and it sounds like the Barmy Army are ready to tuck in, too. "We have reasons to dislike Brad Haddin for his ridiculous appealing and there's a mutual dislike forming with Mitchell Johnson as well," says the Army's Paul Hanslow. "We have come up with songs for both. We have rules on decency and these definitely push the barriers, but if they continue to wind us up no doubt we will use them."

Batsman explains 'mobile phone' jibe to Johnson as he insists England will play swing bowler better at MCG

The fourth Ashes test could attract a record crowd of more than 90,000 to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) later this week after Australia's stunning third test victory in Perth, according to Cricket Victoria.

Tthere was something unseemly about the way England hailed their victory in the second Test. They swilled beer and champagne, they cavorted and crowed, and they invaded their own pitch. Back in Blighty, it was a similar picture, as though this single win, albeit a convincing one, had already clinched the series. This was despite the fact that, in the first Test, the same players had hardly covered themselves with glory.

A momentous cricket match spearheads these reveries, which will cheer supporters of every stripe

Finger trouble for captain but Australia set to make it 1-1 after England batting collapse

Players may be asked to take lie-detector tests to help stop cricket match-fixing. The idea has been proposed by Steve Waugh, one of the toughest of all cricketers, who is to lead a new anti-corruption team to clean up the game.

The two seasons Graeme Swann and Michael Hussey spent together as team-mates at Northamptonshire played an important part in their development into two of the world's finest international cricketers, according to the individual who enjoyed plenty of time in close contact with both at Wantage Road.