The tourists' hopes of regaining the famous urn were washed away by a rain-affected third Test draw at Old Trafford that concluded Monday and gave Ashes-holders England an unassailable 2-0 lead with two to play.
But after losing the first two Tests, Australia's performance at Manchester was much better with their batting finally firing, in contrast to England's.
After the second Test at Lord's, Border, known as "Captain Grumpy", slammed Australia's top three as "embarrassing" while telling Shane Watson to sort himself out, but he has had a change of heart.
"England has retained the Ashes and well done to them, but the performance of this largely inexperienced Australian team has filled me with confidence."
Border, who played 156 Tests scoring 11,174 runs, said it looked like Australia had "drawn their own line in the sand" at Old Trafford, in much the same way Australia did during the 1986-87 series.
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