ALL TO PLAY FOR NOW.

So, after all the early promise of day 1, it's ended in pathetic surrender, and within an hour, on day 4. There can be no doubt that Australia deserved their crushing victory, but how did a team that looked so defeated after Adelaide manufacture such a change in fortunes ?

At Brisbane, England had their backs to the wall after the first innings and responded with an astonishing 517-1 in their second knock. They followed this up with 620-5 at Adelaide, and the Australian bowlers were utterly impotent, their fielders away with the fairies. England's bowling and fielding kept the Australian batsmen under lock and key and the Ashes seemed secure.

What happened ? England's bowlers knocked over the Aussie top order in no time, and then struggled to finish the job. Australia made a passable, though by no means good, score on a bouncey pitch. England's response started well, 78 for the first wicket and all set well; the radio commentators seemed to think a score of 350 to 400 was probably 'par' for the wicket and only Geoffrey Boycott had voiced any words of warning. After this, the game belonged entirely to Australia. England lost all 20 wickets for the addition of a mere 232 runs while Australia were able to add a further 309 to their total. Defeat for England by a massive 267 runs.

Australia's batsmen were no better than in the first 2 matches, with only Hussey, Watson, Haddin and Johnson achieving decent scores. Their bowlers, however, exploited the pitch superbly and showed up the technical deficiencies of England's less than brilliant batsmen. England's bowlers toiled, giving away far too many easy runs through inconsistent delivery, and failing to penetrate the Australian batsmens' defences often enough.

Both sides have good players but neither is a great side. England's batsmen perform well on benign pitches but are unable to cope with anything out of the ordinanry; the anodyne pitches of most modern day cricket are their meat and drink, while a wicket with character defeats them. Conversely, their bowlers are so used to benign wickets that they are unable to exploit those with more pace or bounce. The Australians, on the other hand, generally have better technique and adapt more readily to differing conditions. England's batsmen chase the fast, wide delivery slavishly and their bowlers try to trap the opposition in the same way; both approaches are doomed to failure, as we have soon in the match just ended.

Roll on Melbourne. England may make minor changes, but the team will be, essentially, the same, as will be the Australians'. The pitch will be different and probably more to England's liking, but the Aussies now have their tails up. It's likely to be a close match, decided by one or two key moments - let's hope those moments go in England's favour.