England got a breakthrough very early on Day 4 with Chris Tremlett picking up his first wicket of the innings by bowling Mitchell Johnson off his pad for just 6 leaving Australia on 172 – 7.

Brad Haddin was the only shinning light in the Australian innings as he went to his 50. His keeping and batting throughout the Ashes series has been phenomenal.

Brad Haddin and Peter Siddle both continued to take the attack to the bowlers. With the ball moving in the air it was only a matter of time before England wrapped up the victory. Andrew Strauss resisted the temptation to take the new ball in order to keep his spinner bowling.

A move which paid off a couple of overs later as Siddle went to repeat the dose of hitting Swann for 6 again and didn’t time it as well and Kevin Pietersen took a good catch running round to his left. Siddle managed to get his top score in test cricket with 40 off just 50 balls.

With Hilfenhaus promoted to number 10 which was one position too high in regards to his batting ability. He only managed to last 4 balls as he edged to Matt Prior who took a good catch off the bowling of Tim Bresnan who confirmed his selection as a good one by finishing with 4 for 50 off 21 overs.

As scenes of celebration began to unfold Brad Haddin was left stranded on 55 not out. England will celebrate well into the night as they have throughly outplayed Australia in all 3 departments on every day of the fourth test in Melbourne. England have won by a massive innings and 157 runs which just shows the gulf between the two teams at the moment.

Although they have retained the Ashes they will not be happy with winning the series 2 – 1 or even drawing it 2 – 2 should Australia win the final Ashes test therefore alot of hard work is still ahead but for now the celebrations will go on.

Trott and Prior got proceedings off to a good start with Prior in particular looking to attack the bowling. He reached 85 before he spooned a simple chance back to Ricky Ponting at mid-on.

England’s batting was slightly stronger than the Perth test with Tim Bresnan due in next. Trott just continued to play as he had done throughout his innings and knocked the ball about at will.

An unfortunate injury to Australian bowler Ryan Harris as he ran in to bowl to Jonathan Trott meant he was unable to bowl for the remainder of the innings. He is also unlikely to feature in the fifth and final Ashes test after he was diagnosed with a stress fracture of the ankle.

Bresnan could only manage 4 runs before Siddle took his 5th wicket to get his name on the honors board at the MCG, his home ground. Swann then joined Trott who had now gone to 151. With an average of 69 Jonathan Trott really has dissolved England’s number 3 problem and become an important cog in England’s team.

Swann was in no mood to hang around and went to 22 from 28 balls before toe ending a short ball through to Brad Haddin off the bowling of Ben Hilfenhaus. Tremlett and Anderson only managed 5 between them as Trott was left on 168 not out. Peter Siddle was the pick of the Australian bowlers taking 6 for 75 from 33.1 overs.

With England loosing their final wicket in the lead up to lunch an early lunch was taken as England prepared themselves to take 10 Australian wickets and retain the Ashes for the first time down under since 1985/86.

When England began to bowl the wicket looked very flat and Australia got away to a blistering start. Watson and Hughes were both playing their shots and looked very comfortable doing so with England unable to get any sideways movement.

England were given a gift on 53 when Watson pushed the ball into the covers and hesitantly set off for a single. His hesitancy meant partner Phil Hughes was slow off the mark as Jonathan Trott swopped to pick up and throw to wicketkeeper Matt Prior who whipped the bails off. Australia were 53 – 1 with England requiring a further 9 wickets.

After Australia’s quick start England began to peg the run rate back and build pressure as Ponting and Watson were made to work very hard for their runs. As the ball got older it became more abrasive and started to reverse swing.

With Anderson and Bresnan bowling together batting was becoming more difficult as the ball was beginning to swing more and more. Australia survived to tea without anymore casualties.

The wickets that were threatened before tea fell soon after. Tim Bresnan provided the game-breaking spell, picking up three wickets for two runs in 18 balls. And as those three wickets were Shane Watson and Mike Hussey – Australia’s two most reliable runscorers in this series – and the still-vital scalp of Ricky Ponting, you’d have to say his inclusion in the side here has been justified.

Australia were therefore left on 104 – 4 after being 98 – 1. Graeme Swann then added to Australia’s misery as he chipped in with the wicket of Michael Clarke, smartly caught at second slip by Andrew Strauss, and James Anderson bowled the enterprising Steve Smith before the close leaving Australia 169 – 6.

With Australia trailing by a further 246 runs and England requiring just a further 3 wickets due to the injury to Ryan Harris an England victory is likely to happen before lunch on Day 4.

Australia were in need of quick wickets and lots of them if they were to stand any chance of staying in this test match and therefore preventing England from retaining the Ashes. Australia started opened the bowling with Peter Siddle who although didn’t get any wickets was the pick of the Australian bowlers on Day 1.

Australia got the breakthrough they required fairly early on sending Cook back for 82 with Siddle taking the wicket. Siddle struck again removing England’s other opener, Andrew Strauss, to leave England 170 – 2.

Trott and Pietersen were made to work hard for their runs with Australian captain Ricky Ponting rotating his bowlers. A huge moment of controversy then arrived as Pietersen played forward to a delivery which went through to the wicketkeeper Haddin. Brad Haddin was confident of a nick and they decided to review the decision.

As with all referred decisions it was shown on the big screen. A white mark on the very bottom of the bat was shown thus representing that perhaps the ball hit the bat. However the third umpires decision was correctly given not out as the white mark shown could not have been the ball due to the ball passing the bat much higher up.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting was outraged at the decision and along with team mate Peter Siddle began to take it upon himself to have a word with the umpire. The heated conversation lasted about 3 – 4 minutes before play began and Pietersen was rightly given not out.

The partnership reached 92 with Pietersen going to 51 before he was LBW to Siddle who took his third wicket. Signs of the ball keeping a bit low will please England as they will need to take a further 10 Australian wickets to win the test.

Trott went along his merry way, unfazed by anything the Australian’s threw at him. He reached his 50 however his partners at the other end were struggling. First off Collingwood attempted a pull shot off Mitchell Johnson only to get a top edge straight to Peter Siddle for 8. Then Ian Bell went in similar fashion by the same combination this time for just 1.

Paul Collingwood’s future in an England Test team is now beginning to look very bleak. He has averaged just 15 runs in his last 9 test matches and with the likes of Eoin Morgan waiting in the wings it is only a matter of time before his left out.

With England now 268 – 5 a period of rebuilding was required if they only wanted to bat once. England’s wicketkeeper Matt Prior was due in next and with very little runs in the series it was his time to peak.

With Prior reaching just 4 he edged the ball behind to wicketkeeper Haddin off the bowling of Johnson and began to walk off. Umpire Aleem Dar however called Prior back as he wanted to check whether it was a legal delivery.

The third umpire reported that Johnson did indeed overstep the line and the delivery was therefore a no ball and Prior was called back to the crease. Although tight lipped this time Ricky Ponting was fuming.

With all the drama’s now out the way England continued to bat superbly with Trott reaching 3 figures and Prior going to 50 as England reached 444 – 5, a lead of 346. With 3 days still left in the test match England are likely to continue batting tomorrow before declaring sometime just before tea.

With England’s complete dominance in the first two days of the fourth Ashes test there only appears to be one outcome in this test match.

With cloud cover and a grass covered pitch England needed to make use of the conditions first up as the new ball was crucial. England started extremely well bowling tight lines and making Watson and Hughes play at most deliveries. They carved open two chances to send Watson back to the pavilion but both were dropped. Collingwood dropped a tough chance a 3rd slip and Pietersen dropped a chance which should of been taken a gully.

Although the chances had gone down England were still creating chances and it was only a matter of time before they took their first wicket. Tremlett bowled a beauty which found a bit of extra bounce to Watson who could only get the shoulder of the bat on the ball and it popped up to Pietersen at gully.

Hughes lived dangerously playing every shot in the book as he came out attacking however one shot too many as Bresnan replaced Anderson and got the breakthrough immediately as Hughes sliced a shot to Pietersen at gully to leave Australia 37 – 2.

Tremlett continued to bowl well and produced an excellent delivery to Ponting who could only edge to Swann who dived in front of Strauss at first slip to take an excellent catch leaving Australia 37 – 3. The frail Australian batting line up looked to be wobbling once again, if England could send Hussey back cheaply it could be England’s day.

Hussey and Clarke came together and began to look more assured at the crease playing some nice shots through the cover region. Strauss changed the bowlers around again with Anderson coming back into the attack for Tremlett. With only his 4th delivery of the spell Anderson produced a beauty with took the edge of Hussey’s bat as Prior took a comfortable catch leaving Australia 58 – 2. England went wild as they knew this was the key wicket.

An early lunch was taken due to a shower. Play was delayed by an additional half an hour after lunch but the players soon returned to the action. With England only 2 more wickets away from the tail they will fancy rolling Australia out cheaply. Australia however need another batsman to stand up and show some fight.

England continued to bowl beautifully creating chance after chance. The Australian’s appeared to have no answers as they continued to play loose shots outside the off stump. This was to be their downfall as England continued to take wickets with Smith, Clarke, Haddin and Johnson all being sent back to the pavilion with quick succession.

James Anderson now had 4 wickets and became the leading wicket taker in the series. Prior took another 3 catches behind the stumps to take his tally for the match up to 4. Australia were now in total disarray at 77 – 8.

This is not the first time this batting line up has failed as they were bowled out very cheaply against Pakistan in England during the summer. Any chance of the revival was now down to the bowlers.

Siddle managed to get to double figures before Tremlett returned to send him on his way, he also sent Hilfenhaus back without scoring as England wrapped up the Australian innings for just 98 runs. This is the lowest total for Australia against England at Melbourne.

Anderson and Tremlett were the pick of the bowlers both taking 4 wickets however Bresnan played his part keeping things tight by taking 2 wickets and bowling 6 maiden in his 13 overs. Wicketkeeper Matt Prior ended up with 6 catches commanding England’s fielding performance well.

England now had the final session to bat up to the close on day 1. The sun was beginning to shine as England called for the heavy roller in an attempt to deaden the pitch. If England bat well they will be ahead in the game by the end of close of day 1.

Strauss and Cook came out in positive fashion dismissing the Australian bowlers one by one. The Australian bowlers failed to get the ball to move off the straight as England made light work of batting.

England scored off the loose delivery and left the ball much better than the Australian batsman who fended outside off stump. Ricky Ponting changed his bowlers around however failed to make a breakthrough.

Mitchell Johnson returned to his old ways spraying the ball around including a delivery so wide it went straight to the boundary boarding for 4 runs. Strauss and Cook both went to their half centuries with the only scare coming against Cook as he was wrapped on the pads.

He was given out but Cook instantly reviewed the decision as he got an inside edge and therefore the decision was overturned. England went to the close on 157 – 0, 59 runs ahead of Australia’s first innings total with all their wickets still remaining.

This has to be one of England’s most dominant displays in an Ashes series down under as they blew the Australian’s away then batted with ease to get ahead in the game.

On the first morning of the first day the pitch appeared to have quite alot of live grass and the overhead conditions made it feel like a bowling day. Even with this in mind it was likely that the captain winning the toss would Bat first.

England won the toss and fielded first, the decision was likely to have been made due to the pitch, overhead conditions and the frail Australian batting line up.

England made one change to their line up with Tim Bresnan coming in to replace the leading wicket taker of the series Steven Finn. The reasoning behind this was because Strauss felt the pitch required a pitch it up and swing bowler not a hit the deck bowler.

Australia remained unchanged despite rumours of spinner Michael Beer coming in to replace the out of form Peter Siddle.

The morning session is a vital session in the context of the entire series. If England can take a few quick wickets they will regain the momentum and if Australia get away to a good start the England heads will drop.

With their search for a Shane Warne successor proving fruitless the Aussies named an all-seam attack in Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Ryan Harris.

The result was a succession of short deliveries, often round the wicket to the right-handers, deliberately designed to unsettle the England batsmen. It worked.

England struggled with the short stuff and when Johnson found some swing bowling full with the older ball, they collapsed like a pack of cards and the Ashes best odds always indicated the home side were in charge from then on.

To say bodyline to any Australian cricket fan would perhaps bring on a bout of rage and while this isn’t anywhere near the dangerous arm-ball tactics of that infamous tour in1932-3 it is heading in that direction.

The benefit is also two fold as the fast Waca pitch wasn’t contusive to spin, immediately taking out England’s star spinner Graeme Swann. That piled the pressure on England’s seam bowlers – two of whom are inexperienced.

Plans are already afoot to move pitches at the MCG, with quicker, greener track being prepared in order to allow Australia to employ the same tactics. Anyone who has bet on England to win the Ashes must be watching on nervously.

England must know seriously consider bringing in a fourth seam bowler – probably Tim Bresnan – counteract the Aussies.

That would ease the pressure on the likes of Steven Finn who suffered at the hands of Australian batsmen this match, while Brenan’s abilities with the bat means he could slot in for the struggling Paul Collingwood.

England have had it all their own way this tour and while captain Andrew Strauss is right to call for everyone not to panic, some serious thinking is going to have to be done ahead of the Boxing Day test.

If England are to return home with the Ashes in their possession then much will rest on how they prepare for, and perform at,  the cavernous MCG next week.

England needed ‘a tactical withdrawal’ when they resumed with five wickets left. Any thought of chasing 391 was absurd, given a bit of unevenness in the Perth pitch, but England needed to bat well – to pass 200 at least – to preserve their self-esteem and curb Australia’s.

Instead, England were put to flight by Mitchell Johnson, who finished with nine wickets in the match, and Ryan Harris, who took six in England’s second innings for his best Test figures. They are, as a pair, more potent than any England can manage at the moment: an ominous sign with two Tests left.

Ricky Ponting rightly hailed Johnson’s spell on the second morning, when the fast lefthander took four wickets for seven runs, as ‘probably one of the alltime great Ashes spells.’ Ponting did not field, having broken the little finger of his left hand, and it was his 36th birthday, but wild horses will be needed to keep him away from the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

Harris was fast and straight – too fast and straight for England’s remaining batsmen, let alone tailenders. Harris is particularly good at lefthanders – and detonated James Anderson’s offstump out of the ground.

Ian Bell played some shots – one too many in fact. It was over-ambitious shot-selection to drive a fast straight ball from Harris. The best that England could have salvaged from the wreckage would have been a neat unbeaten 50 by Bell.

Matt Prior has been discomforted by the bounce more than any of England’s batsmen. He topedged a six from one attempt at a hook before fending to third slip, where Mike Hussey capped his marvellous batting with a flying catch to his right.

The Australian players and supporters were whipped up by now. Their fielders ran around, applauding each other and patting bottoms, just as England had done in Adelaide.

Graeme Swann inside-edged a drive at Johnson, Steve Finn fended to third slip, and the celebrations began – almost as if the Ashes had been regained.

England’s captain Andrew Strauss said afterwards, and rightly: ‘As a batting line-up we have to be very, very disappointed.’ He exonerated the bowlers as they had dismissed Australia for two unremarkable totals on ‘a pretty reasonable wicket’.

There is a week to go before the Melbourne Test: time for England to regroup. But if Johnson keeps swinging the ball, England’s ambition may have to be reined back to retaining the Ashes with a 2-2 draw, rather than winning the series.

But there was no escaping Johnson, who loped in – in a rather lupine way – and stole the best Christmas present that England’s players could have had.

Starting in Australia’s darkest hour, when England had cruised to 78 without loss after the home team’s 268, Johnson swung the ball, and the match, in his team’s favour. It was an immortal hour of cricket. The hour had come — it could be postponed no longer — and so did the man.

Whether Johnson can go on to swing the whole series to Australia will be the chief of the many fascinations in the last fortnight of this series.

But as he swung the ball in England’s second innings, as well as when disembowelling their first, the phenomenon might not be temporary – provided Johnson gets in close to the stumps, keeps his leading arm vertical and his left wrist behind the ball.

What is certain is that England were always going to be at the receiving end of an Australian backlash, partly because Perth has a pitch which they have never mastered and partly because this is a five-Test series.

Anyone who had thought England would romp to a 2-0 lead here did not appreciate the essential nature — the beauty — of a five-Test series: that the advantage will swing to and fro as inexorably as a Swiss clock’s pendulum.

England have a team with fewer weak links than Australia, and on a slower pitch — as Melbourne is likely to be on Boxing Day — they are less likely to be skittled by Ryan Harris, who has benefited so much from the wolf’s fangs that have been bared at the other end.

But in the revitalised Johnson Australia have the single most important player from now on, a man who will keep the pendulum and the ball swinging.

Johnson went into the fourth day needing only two more wickets to become the first player for 98 years to score a fifty and take 10 wickets in an Ashes Test; and the three all-rounders who did it before him (Billy Bates and Frank Woolley of England, and Hugh Trumble of Australia) bowled when wickets were far easier to come by. It is no coincidence.

If Johnson scores runs, he takes wickets. When he scores 50 runs in a Test, he averages five wickets; and when he doesn’t, less than four. It is confidence which turns a diffident mouse into the wolf.

After England had been set 391 to win, their opening pair were doing fine until Johnson was brought on for the sixth over and paired with Harris, the bull who charges at gates.

Even then, though, England’s chance of knocking off the runs was extremely remote because the pitch was nothing like the pudding on which South Africa knocked off an even greater target two years ago: the ball, on the first morning when Andrew Strauss had rightly sent Australia in, had taken tiny tufts out of the lavishly grassed surface.

In the first half of the third day Mike Hussey had taken his series aggregate to 517 with a magnificent hundred; Alastair Cook gave chase but fell on 495, leg-before to Harris. When Hussey was out, well caught at deep square, Graeme Swann did the sprinkler dance for the crowd behind him, but England’s talisman had been subdued after being underused. When Cook was out, he thought of calling for a review, but while almost every decision by Billy Doctrove has needed reviewing, those by Marais Erasmus have not.

As a pair, Johnson and Harris showed England again how to bowl on this pitch: either a bouncer or a full length, and usually one followed by the other, to attract the uncommitted drive. Strauss, in defence, edged a fullish ball from Johnson that swung, while Trott edged the variation that went across him, and gave Ponting some grief to mar his day.

England’s batsmen have not been alone in failing to imitate Hussey: Michael Clarke also erred in playing with a bat that was neither horizontal nor vertical. But Kevin Pietersen knew what he should have done, and was extraordinarily — and justifiably – angry with himself when he wafted at an outswinger with his bat at 45 degrees.

Pietersen stormed off. He had lowered his own flag, by following his 227 with three and nought. As he entered the gate to the pavilion steps, he looked daggers at a group of jeering Australian supporters. As he ran up the steps, he raised his bat in anger, but did not bring it down on anyone’s head.

Collingwood was angry with himself too. Batting with a tail-ender is not easy, as Ian Bell is finding out at No 6. If he had had a specialist batsman — not a nightwatchman – for a partner, Collingwood would have taken a run off the penultimate ball, and not been there to slice the last to third slip.

Ian Bell is agreed to have the best technique among England’s batsmen, but his light is hidden under the bushel of No 6. If not No 3, then at the least Bell should be at five, exchanging places with Collingwood, the one player in England’s top seven yet to score a hundred on this tour.

The biggest winner of this Test though is Test cricket itself – in its five-match form. There would be no need for floodlights, pink balls, or a world Test championship if administrators only appreciated that there is even more magic in a five-Test series than in Johnson’s electrifying inswinger.

The simultaneous series between South Africa and India is a perfect example of how Test cricket is staged, and should not be staged, while the Ashes remains the sole example of the supreme form — as the two remaining Tests will no doubt confirm.

One moment Australia’s players and supporters were resigned and dispirited. England had raced to 78 without loss off 24 overs, closing in on Australia’s first innings of 268.

Fatalism hung in the Western Australian air. Andrew Strauss had just taken Ryan Harris for 12 in an over. Everything was set for England to take a first-innings lead, and the match, and to have the Ashes sewn up by Christmas, as never before. Then came Johnson, and his magic.

It was not only the game that he swung but the ball itself. For the best part of two years – since the Durban Test in early 2009 – Johnson has not swung the ball conventionally. But while he was being rested/dropped for the Second Test, he changed his action in the Adelaide nets – and with it the complexion of this series.

Johnson, supervised by Australia’s bowling coach Troy Cooley, got everything going straighter. He ran in closer to the stumps, used his leading arm to point in the right direction, and brought it down in a vertical plane. So the ball went straighter, and his wrist made it swing.

No bowling is more dangerous than a fast left-hander who swings it into right-handers because the pitch does not enter the equation. Just as well for batsmen that there have only been two, ever: Wasim Akram and Johnson. Sir Garfield Sobers, Bill Voce, Alan Davidson, Bruce Reid, Mohammed Amir and one or two others have had their days, but were not outright fast.

England might not have lost a wicket if Johnson had not swung the ball. Their batsmen were programmed for the Johnson of Brisbane, not the Johnson of Perth. It would have been a safe shot for Alastair Cook if the ball had not swung: as it was, a thick-edged push to gully.

Jonathan Trott strode out but appeared soon to be flustered by the pace that Johnson was generating. He tried to hook one of his bouncers: a very high-risk shot with two men out, as Strauss seemed to counsel him.

Soon there were shades of Johannesburg, where England were blitzed in January, and Trott in particular. He lapsed into shot-a-ball mode. When Johnson swung one in, on a full length, a booming drive was not the correct option.

It was just like Lord’s at the end of August, when Mohammed Amir ran through England’s top order with his fast-medium swing. Then England’s number four, five and six scored not a run between them. This time number three, four and five aggregated nine runs.

But England did not give away their wickets. It was the brilliance of the bowler which caused the collapse. Some deliveries were simply superlative, propelled from over the wicket, pitching outside offstump, yet swinging back to hit the stumps, all at above 140 kph.

Kevin Pietersen, for his third ball, did not attempt a defensive shot – such is the contemporary way – but a whip through square-leg. Nothing that Johnson had previously bowled to Paul Collingwood had led him to expect a ball zipping back into him from outside off.

As Ryan Harris had Strauss caught behind pushing forward, England crumbled from 78 without loss to 98 for five wickets.

The hour before noon on the second day of the third Test: that was when the tide turned. The Waca was inflated with renewed belief; the fatalism of mid-morning was replaced with a standing, roaring ovation as Johnson led Australia from the field.

Thereafter England fought – from a long way behind. Ian Bell made a fine, fighting fifty but nobody has been a great match-winning batsman at No 6. Bell’s technique was up to Johnson; his partners’ were not.

England fought when they bowled as well. They maintained the bad form of Phil Hughes, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, but these Australians will be able to survive to fight another Test if they win here and square this series at 1-1.

If, for the first hour of the second day, England’s opening pair of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook continue to leave the ball as well as they have done so far, only something on the lines of deus ex machine can stop England taking an unbreakable grip on this game – and the Ashes.

Australia’s batsmen should be better at leaving the ball in Perth, but their minds are confused and only Michael Hussey showed them how. England’s preparation, yet again, has been admirable: they have discovered the formula of making the utmost of what they have.

Thanks to this fundamental incompetence of Australia’s batsmen, the opening hour was almost as dramatic as in Adelaide. The difference was that Strauss sent Australia in this time: if he had any doubts about bowling first on a relatively well-grassed pitch, then a glance at Ponting’s teamsheet just before the toss would have allayed them.

If all were to go wrong, and England had to bat out for a draw, they would have no specialist spinner to face in their fourth innings on a pitch that looks as though it will hold together.

Bang, bang, bang: Australia’s top-order was blown away by disciplined bowling and their own poor batting. Michael Clarke won the palm for poor shot-selection; Phil Hughes for poor shot-execution, bowled as he was between bat and pad; while Ponting has had no luck in this series.

Or maybe it is that England raise their game even higher when Ponting comes in, knowing they must not let him get away and play one last great innings.

England have started to hunt as a pack in the field. They brought down Ponting for single figures in both innings at Adelaide, and now it was a leaping righthanded blinder by Paul Collingwood at third slip.

England’s allround efforts in the field have been superbly marshalled by Matt Prior. Not to concede a bye at the WACA is a feat in itself. Truth be told, England fielded – but did not bowl – brilliantly.

Chris Tremlett did, compensating every inch for the absence of Stuart Broad and enjoying some of the fortune which Broad had stored up; James Anderson began a bit rustily after his flight home, and inaccurately, but improved from spell to spell until he finished on 199 Test wickets; and Steve Finn was wayward at times. But Australia’s batting was too poor to punish England’s bowling flaws.

Before lunch the pitch had life, but not enough to justify four wickets down: the fourth was that of Shane Watson who was yorked by Finn. The Decision Review System continues to evolve: if a player appeals immediately, the umpire’s decision is almost certainly wrong. Watson appealed in the game’s first over, immediately; then later, after hesitation and discussion with his partner, to no avail.

Conditions for batting after lunch were close to ideal. The Fremantle Doctor did not arrive until teatime, and it was not until Australia’s last-wicket pair had wagged their way to 269 for nine that Graeme Swann came on to use it as an offspinner should, from the Gloucester Park end, to maximise his drift away from righthanders. But Hussey alone of Australia’s specialist batsmen remained.

Steve Smith was brought in to tell jokes and play the extrovert, and the sparky lad will be a fine cricketer. For the moment though it’s a bit of a joke that he is batting for Australia at No 6: he shares the same name, state and position as Steve Waugh but that’s about it.

Brad Haddin made a fighting 53 off 80 balls, Mitchell Johnson 62 off 93, Peter Siddle 35 off 59. Irritating runs for England, except that they also confirmed the trueness of the pitch and the extent of the failure of Australia’s top order.

But then consistent performances flow from consistent selection, and Australia have made four changes here. Only one was enforced by injury – Simon Katich invalided out of the series with his Achilles.

Xavier Doherty’s absence was enforced by Kevin Pietersen, while Marcus North and Doug Bollinger were spat out of the revolving door.