Cameron congratulates English cricket team on Ashes win

From John Raedler, CNN

Prime Minister David Cameron congratulated the country's cricket team on a rare Ashes series victory in Australia.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Cameron: Winning the series is "icing on the cake."
• Australia loses to England on its own home turf for first time in 24 years
• England gets highest score it's ever amassed in Test match in Australia
• The Ashes cricket rivalry started in 1877, and they play for the trophy every two years

(CNN) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron congratulated the country's cricket team Friday after it beat Australia on Aussie home turf in a series of matches for cricket's historic Ashes trophy.

It was the first time in 24 years that England clinched an Ashes series win in Australia.

"Retaining the Ashes was a fantastic achievement, but winning the series really is the icing on the cake," Cameron said. "We've seen some great sporting moments over the series and the team have provided us with some brilliant memories that I'm sure fans will talk about for years to come.

"The whole country is incredibly proud of them."

The rampaging visitors concluded their triumph Friday in Sydney, winning the fifth and final Test of the series by an innings and 83 runs after amassing 644 runs. It's the highest score an English team has ever amassed in a Test match Down Under.

England overwhelmed their arch rivals in three Tests, winning each by an innings, the most decisive manner of victory in cricket.

Australia won one Test, and the other was inconclusive.

In a rivalry that started in 1877, England and Australia play for the Ashes every two years, alternating between the two countries.

Because the English team had won the previous Ashes series in England in 2009, it retained the trophy once it got an unbeatable 2-1 lead in the current series with only the Sydney Test remaining.

The English players, dominating with both bat and ball, hammered home their dominance to wrap up the series with a 3-1 victory.

England batsman Alastair Cook was announced as the best player of the series. He scored 766 runs, including a double century in the first Test in Brisbane.

The Ashes is a symbolic trophy that dates back to 1882, when Australia beat England on U.K. soil for the first time and a British newspaper ran a tongue-in-cheek "obituary" saying cricket had died and the body would be cremated and the ashes sent to Australia.