England's Test series already in ashes

Humiliation is probably not too strong a word to describe England's defeat in the first Test. To lose to an Australian side as good as, if not better than, any they have fielded is no disgrace - but to lose by an innings and 118 runs, on a sporty pitch and in overhead conditions that gave England every opportunity to compete, at least until Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist finally wrenched all hope away, represents a hammering of the highest order.

It was Australia's 17th victory in their last 19 Tests, a sequence broken only by defeat in two remarkable matches in India last winter.

The opening Test of this Ashes series was all over 20 minutes after lunch yesterday, when Ashley Giles edged a Shane Warne leg-break in the most straightforward fashion to Mark Waugh, arguably the best slip fielder the game has seen.

It brought to a conclusion yet another of those England batting collapses that the winter tours had seemed to suggest were now a thing of the past. From 142 for two in the 33rd over, the last seven wickets tumbled processionally for 22 runs, and they were all out for 164 fewer than 10 overs later.

That though was not the worst of it for Nasser Hussain, the England captain, who has only just recovered from a broken right thumb, suffered another fracture to his biscuit-brittle fingers, this time on the little finger of his left hand near to the knuckle. The injury occurred as he fended off the first ball from a new spell from Jason Gillespie which flew from a length.

Although the batsman instinctively pulled his right hand, the bottom one, from bat handle, the ball had crashed into the top hand, added impact lent by the fact that he was "at" the ball rather than riding it.

It is the fourth fracture he has had in two years, all of them in or immediately prior to a Lord's Test and is expected to keep him out of the second Test which starts there on Thursday week.

This ought to have been a match totally dominated by seam and for most sides that would have been the case. But in Warne, Australia possess the finest wrist spinner of them all, and if his role has changed with the balance of the attack, then his impact remains enormous.

In the first innings, when batting conditions were the best of the match, he took five for 71, and yesterday added a further three, giving him match figures of eight for 100.

The other Australian bowlers all played their part however. On Saturday evening, Glenn McGrath had done what he does best and dismissed Mike Atherton in single figures, as on 10 of the previous 11 matches in which they both had played.

Yesterday though it was Gillespie, treated roughly for four overs on Saturday evening, who shone, sending down a perfectly vertical seam to take three for 52, knocking the stuffing out of the middle order as well as from Hussain's finger.

Only while Trescothick (76) and Butcher(41) were adding a second wicket partnership of 95 did batting for England look anything other than an occupation fraught with difficulty. Until Warne snared him in the first innings, Butcher had played comfortably and for an hour and a half did so again yesterday, hitting five boundaries in his 41.

The rest of the batting was a sorry affair with nine batsmen, the captain included, making just 29 runs between them and none double figures. From the moment Gillespie hit Hussain, to that when the stumps came up and the Australian celebrations began, just 80 balls were bowled.

England are now faced with the prospect of playing at Lord's, where Australia have not been beaten in 16 matches since 1934, with a side further disrupted by injury.