Australia pounds England

By Ted Corbett

BIRMINGHAM, JULY 8. Steve Waugh led his team on a tour of honour round Edgbaston today after they won the first Ashes Test by an innings and 118 runs after bowling England out for 164 in 42.1 overs.

The triumphal march of 30 players, officials, security guards and hangers-on - and it can be seen as nothing less - included photo stops, side trips into the crowd to kiss pretty girls and shake hands with those rugged Diggers who have travelled here from Bundaberg, Brisbane and Balmaine and endless waving in response to lusty cheers from Australians and polite clapping by the wretched English.

The 15-minute parade will not have amused Britain's stiff upper lip set, but there is no doubt the Waugh makers and shakers deserve the first of what promises to be a summer of self- congratulation.

They have not just won this match by a huge margin in three and a third rain-hit days but they have forced the bookmakers to cut back their odds for an Ashes whitewash and they have reduced the morale in the England dressing room so that it will be a long time before it rises to knee height again.

Worst of all they have sent Nasser Hussain back to one of his frequent haunts: a hospital X-ray department. He had made nine and the score was 117 for two when he was hit on the little finger of his left hand by a 90 miles an hour delivery from Jason Gillespie. He had treatment - by an odd coincidence Dean Conway, the England physio, was sitting an exam and the Northamptonshire physio Kirk Russell had to treat Hussain - but soon went off and in the 80 balls and 47 runs England's captain and seven of his batsmen were smashed to the ground.

Hussain has a small fracture of the left hand and chose not to bat again. He will be seen by a specialist tomorrow but he cannot expect to be fit and have an innings during the ten days before the second Test at Lord's.

In any case he has just been out for six weeks with a similar break on his right thumb. Neither Graham Thorpe nor Michael Vaughan will be fit, Ian Ward and Usman Afzaal have failed to make their mark and Craig White is showing signs of a lack of match play which gives rise to doubts about his ability to play at Test level.

In other words, in the six weeks since victory against Pakistan at Lord's - its fifth series success in a row - England has plunged into the state of despair which characterised the team before its revival began a year ago.

It began the morning with confident strokes from Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher who put on 95 for the second wicket before Brett Lee began England's descent to ignominy by making a ball to Butcher climb steeply.

Butcher could not avoid giving a catch to Adam Gilchrist, later made man of the match for his wonderful innings yesterday, but for the next eight overs Hussain watched while Trescothick simply played a series of fine shots that gave him most of his two sixes and 11 fours.

Hussain was hurt - on the hand for the fifth time in five years - in the 30th over at 117, with Trescothick still going strongly. Ward's wicket did not fall until 142 when he got an inside edge from Lee on to his thigh and his stumps in the 33rd over. Gillespie's high pace - at an average of 86 mph - was too much for Alec Stewart, Afzaal and White who was out just before lunch at 154 for six.

Effectively it was seven down since Hussain announced he would not bat again as soon as he got back from hospital. Shane Warne got the wickets of Trescothick and Darren Gough with successive balls and finally had Ashley Giles caught by Mark Waugh for his eighth victim of the match. So much for his affectation that he is now only a back-up to the pacemen.

The end came 30 minutes after our tennis champion Tim Henman was knocked out of the men's singles at Wimbledon and 25 hours after the British Lions' defeat in Melbourne so that the only triumphant smiles in the country this week-end belong to Aussies.

``I assure you this team can get better,'' said that wise man Richie Benaud as the Test telecast ended. With four Tests to play that is a frightening thought.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : A tale of two captains
Next     : Team to Sri Lanka to be picked today