No guts, no discipline, no sense, no chance

It started in disbelief, ended in a shambles and there was not a great deal in between to suggest that this Ashes campaign will be any different from the last – a comprehensive series win for Australia. From the first ball of the first Test in Brisbane, bowled by a nervous Andrew Caddick, to the last, when the same player weakly chipped to short leg, England have been utterly outplayed.

The margin of this humiliating defeat was 384 runs which, in terms of runs, is the biggest that England have suffered in Australia and their fourth-biggest ever. What made this loss harder to take, though, is that we were promised by the England captain, Nasser Hussain, a different side to the one that has had its backside kicked by the Aussies for the past 13 years.

However, the new, strong, vibrant England failed to turn up. What we witnessed was a team who buckled under pressure, a team who lacked discipline with the ball in hand and a team who could bat for only 28.2 overs when they attempted to save a game. It was another match where England showed that when they are good they are competitive, but when they are bad they are bloody awful. There is nothing in between.

This Test match will also be remembered as the game that the England captain tossed away. Much has been made of Hussain's decision to bowl first, but at least he has had the courage to admit his error.

"It is obvious, blatantly obvious, that the decision I made on Thursday morning was wrong," Hussain said. "As the England captain I am paid to make decisions and I like to think I am big enough and honest enough to admit that this one was a big mistake. I take full responsibility for it and will not hide behind any excuses.

"At the time you make such a decision, you do so partly on gut feeling, partly on history. I told the team at tea-time on Thursday and again on Friday morning that I had got it wrong – and at the worst possible time of an Ashes series – but they responded with their fullest commitment. It was a gamble, but at 9.30am on the first day it seemed a risk worth taking.

"Today, however, was very disappointing. To be bowled out for 70-odd was not good enough because the pitch was not doing that much. They bowled with great discipline once again and we have to do better than this."

The toss, though, was something Hussain's counterpart, Steve Waugh, played down after his side's comprehensive win. "Before the match I stated that the toss was irrelevant and I stick to that," Waugh said. "Whatever you do first you need to do well and England did not bowl well first up. We batted well and that set the tone for the rest of the match."

It is the mental frailty of England's players that will concern both Hussain and the England coach, Duncan Fletcher, nearly as much as their inability to play consistently good cricket. On the first morning England froze. The bowlers – with the exception of Simon Jones, who ruptured ligaments in his right knee fielding on the first day – and the fielders failed to handle the pressure of the occasion.

Attempting to explain this Hussain said: "I felt there were 11 nervous cricketers out there on the first morning. Maybe it was the build-up, maybe the stadium and the noise or the importance of the game but it was very poor and we let people down." The bad news for England is that it is not going to get any easier as they travel around Australia, unless they start winning or show more stomach for a fight. The crowds and the criticism will get louder and harsher and this will only increase the pressure on his side.

To be more competitive England need to become far more disciplined. England picked a squad of bowlers who were going to rough up Australia, but the fast bowlers they have need to combine pace with accuracy to succeed here. One only has to look at the way that Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Andy Bichel bowled in this Test to see that.

All they do is run in hard and aggressively try to hit a good length. They know that there is not much margin for error on these pitches and they bowl hoping for, but not expecting, some movement off the seam or inconsistent bounce. Ten of the 13 wickets these three Australians took were from catches in the slip cordon: and that shows their level of performance.

Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard and Craig White, however, failed to put enough balls in the right area. The abiding memory of Matthew Hayden's second hundred of the match – a mark achieved only once before by an Australian in an Ashes series in Australia – was that he scored most of his runs with the pull or the cut shot. In any form of cricket and on any surface this is not good enough.

With the bat, England again failed to cope with McGrath, Gillespie and, to a lesser extent, Shane Warne. A lot is made now of game plans and while Michael Vaughan was unlucky to be given out lbw to the third ball of England's reply, Marcus Trescothick is in for a testing winter. McGrath and Gillespie have seen a weakness in the left-hander's defence. It is to a ball pitched up outside off stump and angled across him. Twice in this match Trescothick just hung his bat out and edged to the slips. He has some work to do before the second Test in Adelaide.

Hussain, despite surviving two very good appeals, received another excellent ball that he could do little about. Alec Stewart, however, had a game he would rather forget and continued his poor record against the Aussies by bagging his first pair in a Test match.

The one England batsman you have to feel sorry for is John Crawley. After an excellent 69 not out in the first innings Crawley was stranded by a ridiculous run-out involving Mark Butcher. The school-playground nature of the dismissal summed up England's shortcomings. But for Australia – the full-length dive by Justin Langer followed by the good throw to Adam Gilchrist, who then hit the stumps direct at the bowler's end – it showed their commitment and ability to perform a difficult task under pressure.

These three – Hussain, Crawley and Stewart – fell in six balls for the addition of two runs and the quick dismissal of the tail ensured this Test was completed with a day to spare.

SCOREBOARD

England won toss; fourth day of five

AUSTRALIA – First Innings 492 (M L Hayden 197, R T Ponting 123, S K Warne 57; Giles 101-4).

ENGLAND – First Innings
M E Trescothick c Ponting b McGrath 72
M P Vaughan c Gilchrist b McGrath 33
M A Butcher c Hayden b McGrath 54
N Hussain c Gilchrist b Gillespie 51
J P Crawley not out 69
A J Stewart b Gillespie 0
C White b McGrath 12
A F Giles c Gilchrist b Bichel 13
A R Caddick c Ponting b Bichel 0
M J Hoggard c Hayden b Warne 4
S P Jones absent hurt
Extras (b2, lb8, nb7) 17
Total (451min, 106.5 overs) 325

Fall: 1-49 (Vaughan); 2-170 (Butcher); 3-171 (Trescothick); 4-268 (Hussain); 5-270 (Stewart); 6-283 (White); 7-308 (Giles); 8-308 (Caddick); 9-325 (Hoggard).

Bowling: McGrath 30-9-87-4 (nb1) (4-1-23-0, 5-0-19-1, 7-3-15-0, 6-0-19-2, 8-5-11-1); Gillespie 18-4-51-2 (3-1-5-0, 7-2-11-0, 6-1-24-2, 2-0-11-0); Bichel 23-4-74-2 (nb6) (6-1-20-0, 4-0-17-0, 1-0-3-0, 5-1-20-0, 7-2-14-2); Warne 26.5-4-87-1 (1-0-2-0, 9-2-39-0, 3-1-5-0, 10-0-30-0, 3.5-1-11-1); Waugh 4-2-5-0, Lehmann 5-0-11-0 (one spell each).

Progress: Third day: 200 273min, 65 overs. Lunch 243-3 (Hussain 36, Crawley 33) 76 overs. 250 325min, 79.2 overs. New ball taken after 80 overs at 252-3. 300 412min, 98.1 overs. Innings closed 2.58pm.

Trescothick 50: 142min, 97 balls, 8 fours, 1 six. Butcher 50: 120min, 96 balls, 4 fours. Hussain 50: 136min, 107 balls, 4 fours, 1 six. Crawley 50: 180min, 120 balls, 5 fours.

AUSTRALIA – Second Innings
J L Langer c Stewart b Caddick 22
M L Hayden c and b Giles 103
R T Ponting c Trescothick b Caddick 3
D R Martyn c Hussain b Giles 64
A C Gilchrist not out 60
S R Waugh c Trescothick b Caddick 12
D S Lehmann not out 20
Extras (b3, lb5, nb4) 12
Total (for 5 dec, 307min, 71 overs) 296

Fall: 1-30 (Langer); 2-39 (Ponting); 3-192 (Hayden); 4-213 (Martyn); 5-242 (Waugh).

Bowling: Caddick 23-2-95-3 (nb3) (10-0-42-2 2-1-3-0, 5-1-16-0, 6-0-34-1); Hoggard 13-2-42-0 (6-2-15-0, 5-0-11-0, 2-0-16-0); White 11-0-61-0 (nb1) (4-0-26-0, 7-0-35-0); Giles 24-2-90-2 (8-0-29-0, 3-0-11-0, 13-2-50-2).

Progress: Third day: 50 67min, 13.2 overs. 100 117min, 24.5 overs. Close 111-2 (Hayden 40, Martyn 40) 30 overs. Fourth day: 150 169min, 38.2 overs. 200 221min, 49.1 overs. Lunch 231-4 (Gilchrist 21, Waugh 8) 58 overs. 250 281min, 64.2 overs. Declaration at 1.31pm.

Hayden 50: 151min, 104 balls, 6 fours. 100: 211min, 149 balls, 13 fours, 1 six. Martyn 50: 134min, 90 balls, 6 fours. Gilchrist 50: 80min, 51 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes.

ENGLAND – Second Innings
M E Trescothick c Gilchrist b Gillespie 1
M P Vaughan lbw b McGrath 0
M A Butcher c Ponting b Warne 40
N Hussain c Ponting b McGrath 11
J P Crawley run out (Langer-Gilchrist) 0
A J Stewart c Hayden b Warne 0
C White c Hayden b McGrath 13
A F Giles c Gilchrist b McGrath 4
A R Caddick c Lehmann b Warne 4
M J Hoggard not out 1
S P Jones absent hurt
Extras (lb1, nb4) 5
Total (127min, 28.2 overs) 79

Fall: 1-1 (Vaughan); 2-3 (Trescothick); 3-33 (Hussain); 4-34 (Crawley); 5-35 (Stewart); 6-66 (White); 7-74 (Giles); 8-74 (Butcher); 9-79 (Caddick).

Bowling: McGrath 12-3-36-4 (nb2) (4-0-15-1 8-3-21-3), Gillespie 6-1-13-1, Warne 10.2-3-29-3 (nb2) (one spell each).

Progress: Fourth day: tea 31-2 (Butcher 19, Hussain 10) 14 overs. 50 94min, 21.4 overs. Innings closed 4.09pm.

AUSTRALIA WON BY 384 RUNS

Umpires: S A Bucknor and R E Koertzen.
TV Replay Umpire: S J A Taufel.
Match Referee: Wasim Raja.

Man of the match: M L Hayden.