He certainly played a part in ensuring England gained the bonus point needed to reach the VB Series final by preventing the hosts reaching the winning target inside 40 overs.

It was the best English return since Ian Botham finished with two for 12 off his full allotment of overs against Pakistan on the same ground during the 1992 World Cup, and Nasser Hussain's men now go into the best-of-three series final.

Anderson told Sky Sports: "I felt a bit tired and a bit dizzy. I was feeling a little bit ill towards the end of my spell with the heat, but I am happy with the way I bowled.

"I am really happy with the way things went today and with how I've bowled during the whole series and to return those figures against the Australians is great.

"We've come close to beating Australia a couple of times and now maybe we will shock a few people."

Australia's stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist added: "These were tricky conditions. I think England found that out when they batted and the astute judges would have noticed that the wicket was very slow. It was difficult and England applied themselves very well.

"The first thing I said was, 'make sure we win the game, make sure we make a positive start against the new ball' but Caddick and Anderson bowled immaculate spells, they were very tight and exploited the conditions very well.

"The finals are going to be a challenge, but the comforting thing for us is we've played them four times and we've beaten them in all of those matches."

England skipper Nasser Hussain hailed Anderson's performance under energy-sapping conditions.

He said: "He was brilliant. For a young lad to bowl like that against that line-up, to bowl five maidens on the trot, was brilliant.

"I'm not really worried about the figures, it's the line he bowled. It's something we've lacked.

"He's got a very simple up-and-down action and got a good slower ball. It's nice to see. He's a good, quiet young lad and one for the future."

England rarely looked like preventing the Australians from securing victory but Hussain was still pleased with his side's efforts.

He refused to blame the batsmen for posting a total of only 152 and cited only their reading of the wicket for their disappointing return.

He added: "I'm pretty pleased with most of the game. The only thing we got wrong was we did not read the wicket well.

"We should have realised 200 was a good score but to be fair it looked similar to how it did the other day when 260-270 was a good score. But apart from reading the wicket poorly our cricket was okay today."

England's stand-out batsman was Paul Collingwood, who held the innings together with an unbeaten 63.

Hussain said: "He has played well on various parts of this tour. There is something special about him. He bats and fields well and takes the odd wicket.

"It was he when he came off there that said we were right in there with a shout."

England now go through to the best-of-three final series against Australia, their final games in Australia before a short break ahead of the World Cup.

Hussain said: "I have to be honest, we're all a bit jaded, especially the boys who have been here for the Test matches.

"But we've got big games ahead. Every game is a big game now because next is the World Cup."