Warne has England spinning

THE BOGYMAN returned to haunt England yesterday. With a flick and a fizz Shane Warne, back on the field where first he pulled out his calling card and handed it to a bemused Mike Gatting, cast his sorcerer's spell once more. He mesmerised England's best into producing a display of such abject batting that not only have they surrendered the initiative here but perhaps also in the series.

Bowling from the Warwick Road End and pitching into bare surface, Warne took five for 48 from 28 overs. Three of those went for one run in a 26- ball spell that saw the back of the England engine room of Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe and John Crawley. Each was culpable, of inept shot selection and execution.

Injury and the slow process of rehabilitation mean the record books must be turned back to Warne's figures of seven for 23 against Pakistan in Brisbane, 18 months and 16 matches ago, to find the last time he took five wickets in a Test innings. He may not be back to his manipulative best but back he most certainly is.

At stumps last night England were 161 for eight in their first innings, 74 behind Australia's first-innings 235 and bolstered only by a second- wicket stand of 66 between Mark Butcher (51) and Alec Stewart (30), compiled largely while the seamers were in operation, and an unbroken ninth- wicket effort of 38 from Mark Ealham and Andy Caddick which frustrated the Australians for the final 19 overs of the day.

Steve Waugh's capacity to dig deep, and 14 overs of hotheaded ill- discipline from the England bowlers on Thursday evening had already seen Australia to a total that looked beyond them.

England needed to regain their credibility by skittling the last three Australian wickets, and then bat their socks off. Darren Go ugh and Dean Headley achieved the first objective inside 40 minutes; the batsmen failed to keep their part of the bargain.

England's rapid subsidence in the space of 24 overs from the robust good health of 74 for one to the infirmity of 123 for eight started with Stewart, who failed to get forward to a leg-break and edged it low to Taylor at slip.

Butcher followed in spectacular fashion after three hours of concentration, flicking on the walk at Bevan's legside full toss, missing and watching as Healy brought off a superb stumping.

The door was open. Thorpe under-edged on to his pad, then nine runs later Hussain was hypnotised into following a wide leg-break as if it were a cult religion, and one run further Crawley did much the same, Healy cleaning up both times.

Croft, unsettled by a collision between McGrath's bouncer and his helmet, mistimed a desperate drive to mid-off. Then Gough offered no stroke to a ball from Warne that pitched on the stumps.