Leading article: Sailing by

It was quite a moment for this Fair Isle, the perfect excuse for the Barmy Army to Rockall over the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Even those whose can remember as far back as Bailey were in no doubt – this was an English triumph to rank with Trafalgar.

To what can we ascribe a first Ashes series win on Australian soil for nearly a quarter of a century? Some pointed to a Fastnet that Alastair Cook put himself through before every Test. That may explain why the opposition couldn't get him out in the Forties, still less the hundred and Forties. Even with a man called Hilfenhaus in the side, the Aussies seemed to lack a bit of German Bight.

But to make Cook the Sole recipient of the plaudits of the nation would be quite wrong. This was a classic team effort – at times Dogger'd but mostly not. The team went Forth – and from Tyne to Thames, from Dover to Plymouth, we salute you.

And now we interrupt this leading article to bring you the Shipping Forecast. Some things, we fear, are sacrosanct.