5 reasons why Australia retained the Ashes

The most famous trophy in worldwide cricket, the Ashes Urn, will remain in Australia for the next two years at least after Tim Paine's team beat England by 185 runs in the fourth Test in Manchester to take an unbeatable 2-1 lead in the five-match series on Sunday.

Star batsman Smith's series figures speak for themselves - 671 runs at 134.2 including three hundreds, with a highest score of 211 at Old Trafford.

All could be involved in England's winter tour to New Zealand but, for now, the selectors are going with the tried and tested, as they try to deny Australia the first outright series win on English soil since 2001.

Speaking after the win, Australian batsman Steve Smith said what anyone watching could have told you: the fella was absolutely on fire, providing batting power to match Australia's ruthless bowling attack.

"(Mitchell) Starc, (Pat) Cummins, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Nathan) Lyon, match that up with the England attack.

Meanwhile, Former Australian fast medium bowler Ryan Harris wrote, " Yeeeeeesssss Australia! They have been getting the support of the Australian public again as well as regaining that self-belief and starting to play well as a unit once more.

"They were relentless in everything they did".

But that didn't stop Harmison from taking a dig at the former Australia skipper, who said Smith can never be forgiven for his ball-tampering act.

One of the top-order batsmen would likely miss out in that case with captain Joe Root and head coach Trevor Bayliss deciding on the make-up of the side following any decision made on Stokes.

Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer have bowled well in his absence but England would have been a stronger side had Anderson been fit and firing.

England have named an unchanged squad for the fifth Ashes Test.

The Sydneysider bowled the decisive over of the match late on day four when he dismissed Rory Burns and Joe Root with successive deliveries early in England's second innings.

"Let's be honest, if England had gone to The Oval at 1-1, I think it would have been a travesty", he added.