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Emma McCarthy welled up in the stands as she watched Australia beat England and retain the Ashes.

The 27-year-old has been in the UK supporting her boyfriend Nathan Lyon, 31, throughout the series. 

She shed tears of joy when Josh Hazlewood took the final wicket on Sunday as Australia retained the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001. 

They may also have been tears of relief that the baggy greens had won after Lyon made a mistake in the third Test which cost Australia that match.

As Emma cried, the players screamed with delight and hugged each other on the pitch.

Later the stars were seen drinking beers in the change rooms and spraying champagne before returning to the field to sing the team song under the floodlights.

Emma McCarthy (pictured) welled up in the stands as she watched Australia beat England and retain the Ashes

On Sunday the spinner showed no sign of nerves as he took two wickets in front of proud girlfriend Emma (pictured together)

The moment Australia retained the Ashes with a 185-run victory over England at Old Trafford

The team celebrate in the change rooms after Australia claimed victory to retain the Ashes

Steve Smith of Australia celebrates with team mates while singing the team song on the pitch after Australia claimed victory

Nathan Lyon of Australia celebrates with team mates while singing the team song on the pitch

Nathan Lyon of Australia and Steve Waugh, Australian team mentor, celebrate in the change rooms after Australia claimed victory

Nathan Lyon and Travis Head of Australia celebrate while singing the team song on the pitch

In the third Test last week Lyon fumbled Pat Cummins' return at the bowler's end and missed a golden opportunity to run out Jack Leach and retain the Ashes.

Former captain Ricky Ponting said such a mistake may have stuck in Lyon's mind. 

'There's guaranteed to be some scarring from that... a pretty simple chance but it happens,' Ponting told The Unplayable Podcast.

But on Sunday the spinner showed no sign of nerves as he took two wickets in front of proud girlfriend Emma, whom he confided in after his error.

The wins means Australia lead the five-match series 2-1 with one match to play.

They will keep the Urn because they are the holders and cannot now lose overall. 

Lyon split from his previous partner and mother of his children Mel Waring at the end of 2017.

Miss Waring took to social media last week to say she was not jealous of Miss McCarthy's relationship with Lyon. 

The mother-of-two said she has 'never been happier' despite recent articles claiming she was 'gutted' to see the spin bowler's girlfriend trying on wedding dresses while in England.

Eagle-eyed fans also noticed Lyon's girlfriend of two years Miss McCarthy donned a 'N' necklace while dressing up in the glamorous white gowns with fellow WAGs.   

Emma McCarthy, 27, has been in the UK supporting her boyfriend Nathan Lyon, 31, throughout the series

Eagle-eyed fans also noticed Lyon's girlfriend of two years Miss McCarthy (second right) donned a 'N' necklace while dressing up in the glamorous white gowns with fellow WAGs

Lyon celebrates victory with a kiss from partner Emma McCarthy during day five of the 1st Specsavers Ashes Test

Lyon and Emma McCarthy attend the 2019 Australian Cricket Awards at Crown Palladium on February 11, 2019 in Melbourne

Lyon split from his previous partner and mother of his children Mel Waring at the end of 2017

Australia retain the Ashes with victory over England in fourth Test at Old Trafford as Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon overcome stubborn batting resistance on the final day

Australia clinched the Ashes when Josh Hazlewood got Craig Overton out lbw, causing wild celebrations from the team.

The outstanding Hazlewood dispelled any nerves Australia may have had by providing the killer blow with England 81 balls away from a carbon-copy of their famous stalemate in Cardiff 10 years ago.

How heartbreaking it was for Overton, a controversial choice here to replace Chris Woakes, when Hazlewood thudded the ball into his pads and saw umpire Kumar Dharmasena raise his finger to end 105 balls of gutsy defiance. 

Australia had to wait for the outcome of a review to confirm the wicket of Craig Overton 

 Overton's decisive wicket fell after Hazlewood's wicked delivery rapped him on the pads

The all-rounder walked, confirming that Australia had retained the Ashes in Manchester 

Josh Hazlewood was mobbed by his teammates after helping Australia retain the famous urn

Pat Cummins celebrates taking the breakthrough wicket of England's Jason Roy on Sunday

Roy made 31 before becoming Cummins' third victim of the innings at Old Trafford

Roy expresses his frustration as he returns to the pavilion as his poor Ashes continued

He had no option but to review the decision but, really, there was no doubt Dharamsena had this one right and Overton sank to his haunches while Australia celebrated with gusto keeping hold of the Ashes in this country for the first time in 18 years.

England may be able to square this Specsavers series with victory in the final Test and will feel they have much still to play for at the Oval on Thursday but the Ashes will stay with the holders after this 185-run victory.

Deservedly so, too, because for all England's overdue application here Australia have clearly been the better side in this Ashes, from the genius of Steve Smith to the potency and aggression of one of the best visiting pace attacks seen here for many a year. 

Ben Stokes was unable to replicate his Headingley heroics as he fell for just one run

Stokes feathered an edge to a perfectly pitched Cummins delivery to fall cheaply 

And it has been Pat Cummins, with four second innings wickets in this fourth Test and 24 in the series, who has been at the forefront of that brilliantly managed and rotated pace attack to become almost as important to this Australian triumph as Smith.

Even Australia's captain came good on Sunday when Tim Paine produced the masterstroke of turning to occasional leg-spinner Marnus Labuschagne with just 16 overs left for England to hang on and saw him dismiss the admirable Leach with the fifth ball of his over.

Before then the comparisons with Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar's fabled resistance in Cardiff had extended to the occasional time-wasting appearance of substitute fielders and even a physio or two as Leach cleaned the most famous glasses in cricket.

England had started this final day with their most consistent batsmen in Rory Burns and Joe Root already gone and when Jason Roy and Stokes also fell before lunch there appeared little chance they would extend this Test late into the final session.

The first real resistance came when Joe Denly reached his second half century in successive Tests and when Jonny Bairstow produced just the right temp before a lapse in concentration after a drinks break saw him miss a straight one from Mitchell Starc. 

Joe Denly salutes the England balcony after reaching his half-century just after lunch

Denly ducks under a short ball from Pat Cummins during his gutsy innings of 53 off 123 balls

But Denly was dismissed shortly afterwards with Marnus Labuschagne taking a sharp catch

Denly walks off as Australia celebrate another vital wicket in their pursuit of Test and series win

Australia celebrate the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow, trapped lbw by Mitchell Starc for 25

The loss of Bairstow midway through the afternoon session came as a body blow for England

Cummins earlier thought he had the wicket of Overton but it was overturned on review

It was then that Jos Buttler joined Overton to raise those hopes of another packed Old Trafford crowd before, crucially, Australia finally persuaded the umpires to change a mis-shapen ball and saw its replacement suddenly seam and swing round corners.

Overton's eventual 21 looked to have been cut short on just five when Marais Erasmus gave him lbw to one that swung from Cummins only for the review to show he had not only touched it but the impact of the ball was outside off-stump. Not that TV umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge even noticed the inside edge in a shoddy piece of on and off field officiating.

Buttler was to fall when, with echoes of Simon Jones dismissal of Michael Clarke here in 2005, he left one from Hazlewood that reverse swung in and took his off-stump to leave England seven down with 30 over still to survive.

And Jofra Archer followed when Nathan Lyon, who had struggled through much of the day to take advantage of a pitch taking increasing turn, saw a ball hit a rough spot and scuttle along the ground to trap him palpably lbw.

It was then that Leach, who did so much to help Stokes pull off that Headingley miracle, was promoted ahead of Stuart Broad and played expertly along with his Somerset team-mate Overton on the sort of turning pitch they are well used to at Taunton.

Enter Labuschagne, the batting discovery of this series, to strike the crucial blow with the ball and Australia were almost there, a triumph confirmed by Hazlewood's 18th wicket of the Ashes after he was wisely rested during the World Cup.

When the dust settles England will face a painful inquest into a defeat that ends their chances of what would have been a dream World Cup and Ashes double, not least the position of Root as their Test captain.

Yes, Root is England's best batsman. Yes, he is a good man and, yes, there are no real alternatives. But the brutal truth is that he is not improving as a captain and England here, as Michael Vaughan observed, looked like a bunch of individuals. 

Jos Buttler made 34 off 111 balls before being bowled by Josh Hazlewood after a leave

Hazlewood jumps for joy after taking the wicket of Buttler as Australia get the seventh wicket

Nathan Lyon celebrates the wicket of Jofra Archer, who was trapped lbw having scored one

No such worries for Australia. They were in absolute turmoil after the sandpaper cheating scandal and looked to have little chance of competing in this Ashes series, let alone retaining them.

It was then that Paine and coach Justin Langer began the recovery and while the Tasmanian is an unlikely Ashes winning captain it would be harsh to begrudge him this moment of triumph. 

He can retire after the Oval with his mission accomplished.

Root, meanwhile, has to contemplate losing the Ashes both home and away. And that is a sobering thought for him and an English hierarchy that had always gambled with this series when they prioritised the World Cup this year.

Sadly, that gamble finally backfired on Sunday and there was to be no third cricketing Super Sunday this summer to join the tumultuous World Cup final at Lord's and the extraordinary third Test denouement in Leeds. 

England's luck finally ran out.

Jack Leach pauses to clean his glasses inbetween overs as England make their last stand

Craig Overton and Leach fist bump during their heroic ninth wicket stand at Old Trafford

Marnus Labuschagne celebrates taking the wicket of Jack Leach as Australia closed in