Head, Smith earn praise as Australian media revel in Ashes win

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Jan 9 - Travis Heads swashbuckling batting and the decision making of stand-in captain Steve Smith were hailed as the keys to Australias Ashes victory over England as the nations media revelled in their 4-1 series win.

A five-wicket victory in the fifth test in Sydney on Thursday capped yet another comfortable home series win for the Australians, who maintained their grip on the urn for another 18 months at least.

Fast bowler Mitchell Starc was named Player of the Series but ABCs Dean Bilton felt Heads performances were pivotal to his teams summer of success.

It was the series in which he grew out of his cult hero status and fully became Australias best and most important batter, Bilton wrote on the national broadcasters website.

That he did it as an impromptu opener just adds to the legend.

The series had kicked off with a win inside two days in Perth for the hosts, and Daniel Brettig said in the Sydney Morning Herald that the opening victory, featuring a second-innings haul of 123 by Head, set the tone.

It was a dizzying series in many ways, comprising some moments of champagne cricket but many more of poor stuff that spoke to Englands ramshackle preparation for the task and Australias numerous vulnerabilities, wrote Brettig.

Like so many recent series in Australia, the opening round of the bout proved to be definitive.

At lunch on day two in Perth, England appeared to be set fair for an opening victory that would at least give them a chance, like India last summer, of making this series a contest until its final match.

But so awful was the subsequent batting collapse,