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Nathan Lyon took four wickets as Australia scored a crushing nine-wicket win over England in the first Ashes Test, wrapping up victory on day four at the Gabba.
Nathan Lyon has rediscovered his mojo to lead Australia out of murky water and set up a crushing nine-wicket victory in the first Ashes Test at the Gabba.
The offspinner took four wickets on Saturday morning, England collapsing from 2-220 to be all out for 297.
Wicketkeeper Alex Carey, batting in place of the injured David Warner (ribs), fell for eight while Marcus Harris (nine) drove a boundary through point to bring up the winning runs in pursuit of the 20-run target.
Lyon waited almost a year to bring up his 400th Test wicket and when it came in the fourth over of day four at the Gabba it triggered a dramatic collapse from the visitors.
England lost 8-74 to be bowled out in the first session, a morning that began with England 58 runs shy and hopes of Dawid Malan and Joe Root steering them well ahead ending in tatters.
Lyon (4-91) first forced an inside edge from Malan (82), the catch snaffled at silly point by Marnus Labuschagne to end a 162-run stand that had seemingly pulled Root's men back into the contest.
Cameron Green (2-23) claimed the prized scalp of Root (89) thanks to some subtle outswing with the old ball and the rest fell away with little resistance.
"I said to him last night 'forget about it, you're never going to get your 400th, I said maybe next summer'," skipper Pat Cummins said of Lyon, who is now one of only three Australians with more than 400 Test scalps.
"He's just about our most important bowler ... bowled without luck (on Friday) came out today and showed why he's one of the greatest of all time."
Australia's dominance on Saturday followed their near-perfect effort on day one to dismiss England for 147, Cummins taking five first-innings wickets and seven for the match in his captaincy debut.
Player-of-the-match Travis Head blazed an 85-ball century on Thursday before wicketkeeper Carey collected a world record eight catches in his first Test.
"It (England's fightback on Friday) was a good reminder that it's Test cricket, against the best in the world, they're going to have good days," Cummins said.
"I was happy with how we stuck at it. We were really calm and ahead of the game, there was no panic and got our rewards from the hard work from yesterday."
Warner remained in cotton wool while Josh Hazlewood bowled six overs on Saturday despite having scans on Friday night, the pair nursing rib injuries ahead of Thursday's second Test in Adelaide.
Usman Khajawa could come into play for Australia, so too bowlers Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser, while Root has some big calls to make after the rare, controversial double omission of a healthy Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.
But he defended his decision to bat first and his quicks, particularly Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood, who created enough chances that weren't taken across a costly first two days.
"Even 250 in that first innings and the game looks very different altogether," he said.
"Speaking to Pat, he would have done the same thing, bat first.
"It would have been very easy to go out there and look like rabbits in headlights and think the game's over (after Thursday).
"But we showed good fight ... it was disappointing; even if you get a lead of 170, you're in for a shout."
It was Root's seventh unconverted 50-plus score in Australia across three tours and 10th against them in total since his last Ashes ton in 2015.
