England crushed

Australia wins by innings, 51 runs to take 2-0 Ashes lead

Shane Warne of Australia traps England's Steve Harmison LBW. Hamish Blair/Getty Images

BADELAIDE (Reuters) -- Australia crushed England by an innings on Sunday to win the second Ashes test and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series after the tourists collapsed to 159 all out at tea on the fourth day.

Needing to score 210 to force the home team to bat a second time, England lost by an innings and 51 runs after starting the day on 36 for three at the Adelaide Oval.

Alec Stewart made a defiant 57 to become only the fourth Englishman to hit 8,000 test runs after Glenn McGrath took a spectacular outfield catch to remove first innings centurion Michael Vaughan and trigger another familiar batting collapse.

McGrath mopped up the tail to finish with four for 41 and leg-spinner Shane Warne captured three wickets as England lost their last six batsmen for just 45 runs after three rain delays offered the hope that bad weather might save them.

Australia also won the first test in Brisbane inside four days and now need one more victory to claim a record eighth successive Ashes series. The third test in Perth starts on Friday.

Left with no real prospect of winning, England's best chance was to try and salvage a draw by batting until the arrival of thunderstorms which were forecast to hit the Adelaide Oval late in the afternoon.

Light rain did delay the resumption of play after lunch and there were another two short stoppages in the next two hours which forced the players off the field for a total of 47 minutes.

But the intermittent showers did not last long enough to save England from another heavy defeat.

McGrath catch

Resuming at 36 for three, England could not have made a worse start when Robert Key fell for one in the third over of the day, pulling a short-pitched delivery from paceman Andy Bichel straight to Darren Lehmann at mid-wicket.

Stewart and Vaughan steadied the innings with a 74-run partnership before Vaughan was brilliantly caught on the boundary by McGrath.

The Yorkshire opener was on 41 when he swept Warne to deep backward square where McGrath dived full-length to take the catch after sprinting 20 metres.

Stewart, the oldest player in the match, signalled his intentions to attack from the outset when he flicked the first ball he faced from Bichel off his pads to the boundary.

The 39-year-old belted another five fours to race to his 41st test half-century, off just 67 balls in 81 minutes, and silence his critics after his two ducks in Brisbane.

Stewart passed another significant personal milestone when he reached 52. He became only the fourth Englishman to score 8,000 test runs, joining Graham Gooch (8,900), David Gower (8,231) and Geoff Boycott (8,114).

He eventually fell for 57, trapped leg before wicket by Warne, after all-rounder Craig White was dismissed by McGrath for five the ball before.

McGrath clean bowled Matthew Hoggard for one and Warne got rid of Steve Harmison for a duck with a ball that straightened and hit him on the pads as England lost four wickets for four runs to slump to 134 for 9.

Australia's hopes of a quick kill were thwarted by the third rain delay, then a bold last-wicket stand between Richard Dawson and Andy Caddick.

The pair put on 25 in 28 minutes until Dawson edged McGrath to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist for 19 to wrap up the England innings in less than 60 overs.

Waugh says Australia have never played better

ADELAIDE (Reuters) -- Australia captain Steve Waugh said on Sunday he could not remember his side ever playing better after beating England by an innings to take a 2-0 lead in the Ashes series.

Waugh said he could find nothing to fault about the way his team crushed England for the second time in a fortnight.

"We are playing superbly," Waugh said. "In five or 10 years time we'll look back and say this was a great era in Australian cricket."

The Australians have won their last five tests but, despite their dominance, Waugh said it was unlikely they would eclipse the world record of 16 consecutive test wins between October 1999 and March 2001.

"We're proud of the way we play and it's nice to win, that's why we play, but I don't think 16 will ever be beaten," Waugh said.

"You need a bit of luck to get there. If you win quickly you take the rain out of the equation which is what we've done here, but I don't think we'll do 16 again."

Waugh said he believed his team were not always given enough credit for their achievements with critics claiming their opponents were weak.

But Waugh, who will equal Allan Border as the world's most capped player in history if he plays in the remaining three matches of the series, said the general standard of world cricket remained high.

"We get plenty of accolades but sometimes people say the other sides aren't strong enough. But I've played test cricket for 17 years and the teams we're up against are pretty good sides," he said.

"I don't think they're much worse or better than 10 years ago but I think we're just playing a very good standard of cricket."

Waugh also warned his players not to under-estimate England despite thrashing them in the first two tests.

"We could still lose this series, there's still three test matches to go," he said.

"In both test matches England have shown they're capable of very good days but they just haven't stacked it together.

"We're not going to get too carried away, we've played good cricket but we know it can fall apart the moment you start thinking too far ahead.

"It's not a matter of [Australia] being vulnerable, it's a matter of England lifting themselves.

"I'm not saying it's going to happen, I hope it's not going to happen, but I've played enough sport to know sides can come back.

"They need us to not play at our best...but we're not silly enough to write them off."

Waugh said England deserved credit for the way they batted on the first day when they reached the close at 295 for four but said the turning point was when Andy Bichel dismissed Michael Vaughan for 177 with the last ball of the day.

With Vaughan gone, Australia's bowlers ripped through the England middle and lower order, dismissing them for 342 before lunch on day two then building a match-winning total of 552.

England lost by an innings and 51 runs when they collapsed to 159 all out in the second innings on Sunday.

"I thought England batted very well and at three for 295 they obviously would have been in the box position in the test match with us having to bat last," Waugh said.

"That wicket of Bichel's was vital on day one because the next session on the next morning when we took six wickets for about 40 really turned the match around.

"We knew 342 probably was below par on that wicket and if we could get a good first innings score we could do some damage."

Hussain says England facing 5-0 Ashes loss

ADELAIDE (Reuters) -- England captain Nasser Hussain conceded on Sunday his team were facing the humiliation of a 5-0 series loss after being crushed by an innings in the second Ashes test on Sunday.

Hussain said the prospects of England avoiding a series whitewash were bleak unless his players suddenly started playing better against a red-hot Australia side.

"I anticipate them wanting to beat us 5-0, they'll be completely cut-throat, they'll show no mercy at all," Hussain said.

"The old days of teams turning up and thinking this game doesn't matter, we'll win 4-1 or whatever, are gone, that's not the Australian side we're playing against at the moment.

"Unless we improve we'll get beaten."

But, in an equally blunt admission, Hussain said England had no real idea how they could stop the Australians and the best they could hope for was to try and copy what they did.

"I don't think there's any disgrace at having a look at the best side in the world and trying to learn from them," Hussain said.

"I'm not asking each of our bowlers to be Glenn McGrath or our batsmen to be Ricky Ponting, I'm just asking them to improve their disciplines.

"It comes down to technique and ability. It's a simple game that everyone else makes complicated.

"If you look at the way Glenn McGrath sets up his over or the way Ponting bats, it's not a mental thing, it's a technical, positive thing.

"I just have to repeat what I said after the last test match, 'if you don't get your disciplines right here you'll just get blown away'."

Hussain scoffed at suggestions his team were psyched out by the reputations of Australia's players, sarcastically suggesting they had a mental edge over the entire cricketing world.

"I think Australia have a psychological stranglehold on the world of cricket at the moment and everyone else should just pack their coffins up and go home," he said.

"The truth is, how you play the game of cricket is how we're being outplayed.

"There's no great mind games people on their side and there's none on our side, it's just a technical ability thing.

"I just hope that people in the dressing room don't get too defeated by what they read and listen to and what they've done so far.

"They've got to try and pick themselves up and try and win little battles, maybe not look at the big picture, just try and win their own little personal battle.

"We've got to try and win sessions, things like that, you just carried away with everything else that's going on and we just need to look at the real basics of the game."

Caddick joins England injury list

ADELAIDE (Reuters) -- Paceman Andy Caddick has joined England's growing injury list and may be in doubt for the third test against Australia starting in Perth on Friday.

Caddick has been suffering back spasms and was unable to bowl after tea in the Adelaide test on Saturday. On Sunday, he batted number 11, instead of nine.

Hussain told SkySports News: "The injury situation has been ridiculous really."

England are reviewing the crisis and may have to consider replacements.

Injured all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and left-arm spinner Ashley Giles are already out of the Perth test and fast bowler Darren Gough will miss the entire series after failing to overcome a long-term knee problem.

Fellow paceman Simon Jones is also out for the rest of the tour after rupturing ligaments in his knee while fielding in the first test. He may be out of the sport for up to 10 months.

Middle-order batsman John Crawley is in doubt for Perth with a thigh injury and opener Michael Vaughan remains on painkillers after being struck on the shoulder by a Jason Gillespie bouncer in Adelaide.

England trail 2-0 in the five-match series after losing the second test by an innings and 51 runs.

Jones says he could be out for up to 10 months

LONDON (Reuters) -- England fast bowler Simon Jones may be out of cricket for up to 10 months after a severe injury cut short his Ashes tour of Australia.

Jones, 23, sustained a serious cruciate ligament injury while making a sliding stop in the first test in Brisbane.

The Glamorgan pace bowler told BBC radio on Sunday he would see a specialist on Monday and undergo an operation next Friday.

Asked how long it would be before he could play again, Jones replied: "I've heard lots of views, anything from six to 10 months."

Captains undecided on future of video umpiring

ADELAIDE (Reuters) -- Australia captain Steve Waugh believes a radical new system where players can be recalled to the wicket could solve the controversy over dismissals by the video umpire.

Waugh said on Sunday he would prefer a return to the old days of cricket when batsmen simply accepted the word of the fielder on whether a catch had been taken or not rather than refer the matter to a third umpire.

But Waugh said the batsmen should have the chance to be recalled to the crease if the television replay showed the player was not out.

"It's hard to know what the answer is," Waugh said.

"Perhaps they should go on what the fielder says and if it's obviously incorrect and the replay showed it then maybe they can call the batsman back and he can bat next or something."

The issue of television replays deciding close catches was raised during the second Ashes test when England opener Michael Vaughan was given the benefit of the doubt to a low catch that Justin Langer claimed.

Langer insisted he had taken the ball cleanly but Vaughan stood his ground and was eventually let off because the replays were inconclusive.

"Our side's done it a few times so we're certainly not blaming the batsman," Waugh said.

"[But] it's probably gone too far now and there's been so many decisions that batsmen know if it's a close call they can stand their ground."

England skipper Nasser Hussain said he supported the principle of using television replays but was happy to let the on-field umpires decide if players were unsatisfied with the current set up.

"The whole point of technology was brought in to get it right but if people think they're not getting it right we might as well go back to the umpires," Hussain said.

"I'm a fan of technology because in general it limits the doubt and when you've got one chance out there as a batsman and it's really important to you and it's going to ruin your whole week if someone gets it wrong then I'd like someone to have another look.

"But if it's not working then there's no point in it...let's scrap it and just go back to player honesty."

 

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