Plucked from obscurity when called up by selectors on Christmas Eve, the 32-year-old Victoria paceman finished with outrageous innings figures of 6-7 in four overs, sending his home crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground into delirium.
Australia have sprung a surprise by picking untried spinner Michael Beer in a revamped 12-man squad for the third Ashes Test starting in Perth next week.
Appointed in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in 2018, Justin Langer has held his position since, but his contract expires mid-year.
While England failed miserably on the field under his watch, Thorpe's departure was also expedited after reports emerged that police had to be called in to the team hotel in Hobart after he had lit a cigar inside the premise following a drinking session that lasted till 6 a.m.
Pat Cummins said it's tough to repose full "confidence" on ultra-edge technology but maintained that India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal had clearly edged him
'The Ashes are on the line here, if that is not motivation, I don't know what is.'
Australia have barely put a foot wrong in the five-match series and will head to the MCG confident of pushing England toward a second successive whitewash on home soil.
Before heading to Australia for the Ashes in the winter, England play seven Tests at home against New Zealand and India this summer.
Bracing up for the Ashes, influential England player Jos Buttler is drawing inspiration from the "totally fearless" approach, which the flamboyant Rishabh Pant had adopted during the Indian team's last tour of Australia.
Australia's annihilation at Lord's was slammed by the country's cricket writers on Monday, and their chances of winning a solitary Test on their tour of England all but written off.
England completed a crushing 347-run victory over Australia with a day to spare in the second Ashes Test on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
The five-Test series pours about A$200 million ($145.68 million) into Cricket Australia (CA) coffers through broadcast, sponsorship and ticketing, local media have reported.
Former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden feels that David Warner and Travis Head are the ideal duo to open for Australia at the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup which is set to begin on October 5.
Check out the lowest totals in Ashes history after England bowled Australia out for 60 in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge on Thursday.
Michael Clarke's team, says Bikash Mohapatra, may have lost the Ashes 0-3, but did enough to ensure England will have a lot to worry about in three months' time.
Iga Swiatek has been not been at her world-beating best in the months leading up to the U.S. Open but the Pole has both the talent and mentality to lift her game for the final Grand Slam of the year, tennis great Chris Evert said.
Images from Day 1 of the 5th and final opening Test between Australia and England at the SCG in Sydney on Thursday
Brad Hodge was named 12th man while Michael Clarke moved up the batting order to four for the ICC Super Test.
Australia head coach Andrew McDonald is concerned about Cameron Green's workload leading up to IPL 2023.
Australia dismissed England for 368 on the fourth morning of the third Test at Old Trafford on Sunday to take a first-innings lead of 159.
After winning the fourth Test match against England and retaining the Ashes, Australia batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner shared their team's celebratory moments with the fans.
Ryan Harris claimed six wickets for 47 runs as Australia beat England by 267 runs in the third Ashes Test at the WACA on Sunday to level the series at 1-1 with two matches remaining.
Australia leave India with the world number one ranking in one-day cricket and will return to the subcontinent for this year's World Cup with confidence after edging the hosts 2-1 in the series.
With the Ashes Tests already consigned to history, Australia's cricketers have switched their attention back to one-day cricket and the defence of their World Cup title in the West Indies.
Bangladesh will take on Scotland in the tournament opener in an afternoon fixture followed by a clash between Asian teams Pakistan and Sri Lanka later in the day at Sharjah.
Paine was set to lead Australia into the home Ashes series last year until the sexting allegations became public. He stepped down and was replaced by Pat Cummins.
Australia, who beat England 4-0 in the Ashes in January, have moved from 119 to 128 rating points in the annual update that drops the 2018-19 season and reflects all series completed since May 2019.
England on Sunday named their strongest available squad for the Ashes tour to Australia as all-rounders Ben Stokes and Sam Curran missed out but seamer Stuart Broad was included despite the calf injury he picked up in the Test series against India.
Langer's tenure culminated in a 4-0 thrashing of England in the Ashes serie
Australia won the toss and elected to bat, posting a par score of 172 for four, before restricting India to 167 for eight in reply. They will now await the winner of Friday's second semi-final between England and hosts South Africa.
Australia's decision to field an unchanged frontline pace attack last summer might have been unusual as selectors now reassess their seam options after losing allrounder Cameron Green.
Nayar believes that the whole team has bought into Rohit and Gambhir's philosophy, including the two spin greats.
England were scenting victory after claiming three late wickets to reduce Australia to 174 for six on a fluctuating fourth day of the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
It's a fair bet Michael Clarke won't be booed at the Sydney Cricket Ground this week when he sets out to become just the third Australia captain to achieve a 5-0 sweep over England in an Ashes series.
Ahead of the WTC final between India and Australia, Ricky Ponting picked Australia's playing XI.
England seamer Stuart Broad doubted whether Australia's travel and quarantine restrictions would lead to a postponement of the end-of-year Ashes series but he said players would want to be promised the best possible environment for the tour.
Both players had a forgettable outing at Brisbane as Australia went 1-0 up in the series.
IMAGES from Day 3 of the 1st Ashes Test played at the Gabba in Brisbane on Friday.
Australia's run-machine Marnus Labuschagne has displaced England captain Joe Root to claim the world's number one Test batter spot following a run of big scores in the ongoing Ashes series.
Australia's blockbuster four-Test series against India will be the greatest challenge Pat Cummins has faced in his young captaincy as he looks to conquer the "final frontier".
