After the tourists recorded their first win at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday, the tabloid Daily Mirror asked in a headline: "Q: Why is it called One day cricket? A: It's the One day we beat Australia!"

Headlines in the early editions were similarly tongue-in-cheek. "Cricket sensation" screamed The Sun. "We've won!" The Daily Mail said simply "At last!"

Others reflected on England's fruitless efforts since arriving Down Under in November last year. "After three months, 9,119 minutes of play and 12,588 balls, England finally beat Australia," said The Guardian.

All praised the efforts of and noted the irony in the Irishman who largely spared England's blushes, Ed Joyce, who notched up his first international ton with 107 off 142 balls in a match-winning total of 292.

Joyce, who had the luck of the Irish after being dropped twice, gave a nod to the country of his birth, and which he has represented in the ICC Trophy until qualifying for England through residency in 2005.

"I'm certainly the proudest man coming out the Emerald Isle at the moment," the Middlesex batsman was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.

The Daily Telegraph praised Joyce's move to opener, tipping him to follow in the footsteps of fellow left-handers, one-day specialist Nick Knight and Marcus Trescothick, who pulled out of the Ashes tour due to illness.

"Joyce's move to the top of the order is just about the first England plan to come off on this tour," the newspaper's correspondent said.

The Guardian's man at the SCG said: "He is calm, ordered and seems to possess a cricketing nous. Even when he hits the fielders, he hits them with an authoritative ring of the bat."

There was praise, too, for Liam Plunkett, the 21-year-old Durham paceman who opened his three for 24 spell by snaring Adam Gilchrist first ball during Australia's run chase that fell 93 short.

While some papers said the win would give England a welcome boost, particularly as it could still see them leapfrog New Zealand into this month's best-of-three finals, others warned against getting carried away.

Former England bowler Angus Fraser wrote in The Independent that Australia -- 5-0 Ashes champions and victors in a Twenty20 international and four one-day matches -- were "complacent" opponents.

The Daily Telegraph said the men in gold and green had an "off-night".

"First, they had to do without their captain, Ricky Ponting... they bowled too many wides, dropped catches, suffered an injury at a critical time and lost their last five wickets in a heap. Does any of this sound familiar?"

The Times, though, fancied some long-awaited revelling in victory.

"As the decades pass, cricket folk may well recall the Ashes whitewash before Joyce's one-day hundred in Sydney when they come to assess the 2006-07 winter. That will be up to them.

"Last night, though, was not the time to be calling for perspective."