Inevitably there was a backlash. Inevitable, too, that for the most part it should come from Justin Langer, a chap who until now on this tour had been unable to hit his hat, never mind peak form.

By the time bad light brought the first day of the final Test to a conclusion eight overs early, Australia had batted their way to 324 for two.

It might have been better had not Langer been hit on the head by a bouncer from Andy Caddick shortly after completing his eighth Test century and been carted off to the infirmary for scans. "He walked to the car," the Australian media man informed the press. "First Aussie to walk this summer," said someone drily.

He and Matthew Hayden had set the day's agenda by adding 158 for the first wicket after Steve Waugh had won the toss yet again (Nasser Hussain has now lost all but one of his last 15), and by the time England saw the back of Langer, albeit temporarily, he and Ricky Ponting had already added a further 78 for the second.

Mark Waugh took over the baton in imperious manner, adding a further 56 with Ponting, back to the form he displayed during the one-day series, before the latter, on 62, presented Jimmy Ormond with his first Test wicket by slashing a catch to first slip.

Mark Waugh, though, will resume this morning with his twin, and has already hit seven boundaries in reaching 48. Earlier, when 32, he exceeded the 7,422 career runs of David Boon to take fourth place in the Australian pecking order, behind only three captains past and present in Allan Border (11,174), Steve Waugh (9,141 now) and Mark Taylor (7,525).

Stung by the result at Headingley, Australia are in no mood to offer England charity of any kind: this could be a big statement they are making here and already England will recognise the uphill nature of their task to stay in the game.

The pitch, as Hussain surmised on Wednesday, was dry but as with some Oval surfaces of recent vintage, lacks a certain amount of substance. Towards the close of play, Phil Tufnell, who had an indifferent return to the Test scene and had reverted to the tired old ploy of bowling over the wicket and into the bowler's rough, spun one sharply across Mark Waugh's bows, stimulating the interest of Shane Warne. He as much as anyone will be a handful.

The adjective "nuggety" might have been devised for Langer and he celebrated his century in a leaping fist-punching fashion that conveyed his total joy not just at being back in the fold but taking centre stage. At the start of the series, he had been hurt deeply when his captain had told him he was being dropped in favour of Damien Martyn.

If it was scratchy at the start, then there is no surprise in that for until yesterday he had only made 200 runs on the tour. As his stay of more than four hours progressed however, his range of strokes expanded until he powered his way through the nineties and on to his century with three fours in four Tufnell deliveries.

If this was a good first day batting strip the conditions were not entirely against the bowlers. By the time play began the humidity was hanging thick in the air so that the familiar London landmarks in the distance - Millennium Eye and Palace of Westminster - were partly obscured by the haze.

It remained so all day. The ball should have swung and did so, although none of the England seamers were able to exploit it as well as they might, with Darren Gough again trading runs but getting nothing in return, Caddick patchy and Ormond steady enough, but lacking in imagination, although he can and no doubt will learn.

An away swing bowler without a variation is like a legspinner without a googly: he becomes predictable and batsmen of this quality simply line him up. That, should he go to the Academy in Adelaide this winter, is something that will be drilled into him.

Tufnell's return was altogether less satisfactory and will have done little to enhance his chances of gaining a place on the winter tour to India. He is a purveyor of variations in flight rather than spin, but from his very first delivery, which Hayden met down the track, the Australians ensured that he was not able to settle into a rhythm.

Not one of his 24 overs was a maiden, nor did that seem likely as he conceded almost five runs per over. Even his wicket owed more to Hayden's impetuosity than the bowler's subtle art, as the left hander fetched a delivery from outside off stump and clumped it low but unerringly to Marcus Trescothick at deep mid wicket. This summer has already seen off one old stager in Graeme Hick and unless something drastic happens today, another may follow.