The Ashes - 5th Test: The SCG

Following an uncomfortable 12 hour overnight coach journey from Melbourne we arrived into Sydney for the final Ashes test. Our first day at the Sydney Cricket Ground was Day 2, where England continued to bowl well and had Australia 8/189 before a minor tail-end revival gave them a more respectable total of 280 runs.

Our initial fears of a repeat of Perth were quickly forgotten as England's batsmen overtook the Australian total for a loss of just 5 wickets.

We were back again on Day 3 of the test for 'Pink Day', where money was raised for the breast cancer charity in honour of former Australian cricketer Glenn McGrath's late first wife. It was amazing to see the whole ground awash with pink including the stumps and most of the advertising hoardings. England batted all day with Bell and Prior both posting centuries.

England continued to bat until lunch on Day 4, reaching a score of 644 runs - the highest total any England side has ever scored in Australia. We had been fortunate to witness an incredible number of records being broken throughout this test. In the final two sessions of the day, England took an incredible 7 wickets giving Australia no hope of saving the match.

With England requiring only 3 wickets for victory, entry into the ground on the final day was free. Despite this, finding a needle in a haystack would have been easier than spotting an Aussie inside the ground!

Following a couple of rain delays England took care of the final 3 wickets and the party commenced.

We had a great morning singing along with the Barmy Army. Mark also realised that Day 5 in Sydney was the 13th day he had attended out of the 23 played in this amazing series. Meg set about calculating how many 'Brownie Points' this had earned her!

The only sad moment of the victory was bidding farewell to Paul Collingwood who announced his retirement from test cricket. Despite having a below-par series, Collingwood was still a fan-favourite for his reliable catching, solid batting, endless commitment and fighting spirit.

The next day we left Australia and made our way to Washington DC to visit Meg's parents. Going from temperatures of 30'C to -5'C in the space of one day was a shock to our systems. But the biggest change is that Mark can now walk the streets without being pointed at and called "Colly". He is no longer a celebrity!