Cricket: England reduced to a sorry wreck

8.00 am - By DEREK PRINGLE

England 294 and 164 Australia 576

Australia wins by an innings and 118 runs

EDGBASTON - The sell-out crowd was a first at Edgbaston, yet what they saw was an all too familiar feature of Ashes matches as England capitulated to an Australian team now taking Test cricket into the unknown.

The losing margin, an innings and 118 runs, came after Australia's bowlers took just 42.1 overs to despatch England for 164 in their second innings. To add injury to the insult, Jason Gillespie broke the little finger of Nasser Hussain's top hand with a brute of a ball that climbed wickedly from a good length.

This is the fourth occasion Hussain has suffered a break since taking over the England captaincy two years ago, though two of them were sustained while fielding. All have occurred either during or just before the Lord's Test and, unless the specialist he sees today offers him a quick fix, Hussain's personal Lord's jinx (the Test begins on 19 July) will strike again.

For England, the captain's digit further adds to the disruption caused by ailments to Graham Thorpe, Michael Vaughan and Mark Ramprakash, who was called up as a replacement. To lose three leading players in a tussle with the worst side in world cricket would be a problem, against Australia it is a catastrophe. Afterwards, Hussain admitted that the situation leading up to yesterday's defeat, though not the loss itself, was the low point of his career.

"In terms of injury problems and my own break today it has been a demoralising time but we are still a bloody good team," he insisted afterwards. "Obviously I'm disappointed by the manner of the deficit but this is the best Australia side I've played against and one which has now won 17 of their last 19 Tests."

Although Edgbaston has brought the best out of England in the recent past, they lost here to the West Indies last year by a similar margin only to bounce back at Lord's. Australia though are a far more robust side and have a special relationship with HQ that has seen them lose only once there in 105 years. Any fightback by England will not come without inspiration.

"There is nothing to be gained by telling them they are a crap team and tearing them apart," said Hussain. "English cricket will not improve by doing that. We've got to work with what we've got and keep going forward."

"Australia will be looking at us to see if it is the same old England turning up at Lord's as raggy-arsed rangers or whether we can show some character. It is up to those picked to show that character."

Test cricket is all about momentum and England would have had to defy the equivalent of a tidal wave to prevent Australia winning this Test after their first-innings lead. Against a tall, accurate, pace bowler and a leg-spinner confident that England possess no-one to knock him off his game plan, it was only a matter of when the visitors would win, not if.

The match was not all one-way traffic and Marcus Trescothick, with a fine 76 yesterday that included two hooked sixes and 11 fours, displayed the right mixture of grit and adventure needed to take the fight to Australia's brassy quartet of bowlers.

There were other moments when England held the flow, as when Andy Caddick and Alec Stewart added 103 for the last wicket, but they were quickly squandered by sloppy catching and undisciplined bowling.

Never one to miss the opportunity for a mind game or two, Steve Waugh said he felt England were in the game until Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist took it away from them with a century apiece. If he means what he says, the comments could be construed as a veiled swipe at Hussain, who had his worst match in the field as England captain.

A great admirer of his opposite number, Hussain has sought to copy Waugh's aggressive and attacking style wherever possible. But if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, you need the tools to do it properly. Without them, Hussain's over-attacking fields ­ when damage limitation was required ­ smacked of a stubborn man overdoing the bravado.

Since their ascendancy at the end of the 1980s, Australia have brought out the worst in England, who tend to settle into the series only when it is too late. They also apply pressure like no other side which is why despite two decent starts (106 for 1 in the first innings, and 99 for 1 in the second) England's middle-order, with two inexperienced players in it, was blown away.

Indeed, for the first hour, when Trescothick and Butcher were rattling along against Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, the gulf did not look unbridgeable. But Australia are constantly plotting, never cruising, and a quick bowling change, followed by a lifter from Brett Lee to remove Butcher, shattered any brief illusion of parity.

Ian Ward, as he had done in the first innings, played on, off an inside edge and thigh, Lee's round the wicket angle able to exploit the technical weakness that sees him take his bat too far round his body to bring it back in a straight line to meet the ball.

But if Lee's first Ashes wickets gave him confidence after a shaky start on Thursday, the real danger man among the pace trio is Gillespie. Tall, fast and with seam vertical, Gillespie built on his hand-crushing delivery to Hussain by dismissing Alec Stewart, Usman Afzaal and Craig White in rapid succession, the last two beaten for pace.

Gillespie would have snared one more had Mark Waugh not dropped Ashley Giles first ball after lunch. Waugh later made amends by pouching the left-arm spinner off Warne, a catch that has moved him to within one of equalling the world record of 157 held by his former captain Mark Taylor.

Rarely one to miss out when the Poms are batting, Warne weighed in to mop up the rest, including Trescothick who edged his drive to slip. But if the opener was the biggest wicket, the final one of the innings, his 384th in Test cricket, brought him the most pleasure and there was a brief gesture to the Sky TV box to acknowledge he had overhauled the 383 taken by his good friend Ian Botham.

Afterwards, Steve Waugh took the whole Australian squad on a lap of honour round the ground. But if Ashes cricket still means enough to him to milk the situation, it is up to England to prevent it from becoming a habit.

EDGBASTON SCOREBOARD

Australia won toss

England ­ First Innings 294 (M A Atherton 57, A J Stewart 65; S K Warne 5-71).

Australia ­ First Innings (Friday: 332 for 4)

Michael Slater b Gough 77

Matthew Hayden c White b Giles 35

Ricky Ponting lbw b Gough 11

Mark Waugh c Stewart b Caddick 49

Steve Waugh lbw b Gough 105

Damien Martyn c Trescothick b Butcher 105

Adam Gilchrist c Caddick b White 152

Shane Warne c Atherton b Butcher 8

Brett Lee c Atherton b Butcher 0

Jason Gillespie lbw b Butcher 0

Glenn McGrath not out 1

Extras (3b, 7lb, 23nb) 33

TOTAL: (all out) 576

Fall of wickets: 1-98, 2-130, 3-134, 4-267, 5-336, 6-496, 7-511, 8-513, 9-513, 10-576.

Bowling: Darren Gough 33-6-152-3 (10nb), Andy Caddick 36-0-163-1 (12nb), Craig White 26.4-5-101-1 (1nb), Ashley Giles 25-0-108-1, Mark Butcher 9-3-42-4.

Batting time: 566 minutes. Overs: 129.4

England, 2nd Innings, Overnight 48 for one

Michael Atherton c Mark Waugh b McGrath 4

Marcus Trescothick c Mark Waugh b Warne 76

Mark Butcher c Gilchrist b Lee 41

Nasser Hussain retired hurt 9

Ian Ward b Lee 3

Alec Stewart c Warne b Gillespie 5

Uzman Afzaal lbw b Gillespie 2

Craig White b Gillespie 0

Ashley Giles c Mark Waugh b Warne 0

Darren Gough lbw b Warne 0

Andy Caddick not out 6

Extras (1b, 5lb, 12nb) 18

TOTAL: (all out) 164

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-99, 3-142, 4-148, 5-150, 6-154, 7-155, 8-155, 9-164.

Bowling: Glenn McGrath 13-5-34-1 (5nb), Jason Gillespie 11-2-52-3 (3nb), Shane Warne 10.1-4-29-3 (1nb), Mark Waugh 1-0-6-0, Brett Lee 7-0-37-2 (2nb).

Batting time: 198 minutes. Overs: 42.1

Result: Australia won by an innings and 118 runs.

Umpires: Steve Bucknor and George Sharpe. Television umpire: Ken Palmer.

Match referee: Talat Ali (Pakistan)

- INDEPENDENT