By Sclyd Berry

First day: England 112 all out, Australia 150 for 3

ENGLAND were overwhelmed by red-blooded Australian aggression. From the moment their batsmen emerged on the field of play, they had nowhere to hide, not a comfort zone in sight, and were rapidly dismissed for their lowest total at the WACA ground in Perth.

To hold on to Australia, England had to carry on from where they left off at the end of day three in Brisbane, but they carried on feebly from day five instead. It was largely a failure of technique and method on what is again the world's fastest pitch but England were rattled, too, by the injury to Mark Ramprakash and the 'chin music' blasted at them by Glenn McGrath.

For the first hour, the pitch was slightly damp, allowing McGrath an inch or two of seam movement, but not half as wet as England were. They did not perish to the hook, as some had at the Gabba, solving that problem by getting themselves out in other ways instead, and all of them caught by the wicketkeeper or first or second slip, except for the burning ship's captain, Alec Stewart.

If it was justifiable to lose three wickets to McGrath, it was culpable to lose five to Damien Fleming. Stewart and Nasser Hussain were both innocent victims of excellent deliveries, one seaming in, the other swinging out. On the other hand, Mike Atherton, Graeme Hick and Ramprakash could have let their balls go past unhit, as Western Australia's batsmen did in their match against England, often letting the ball bounce over their stumps; but the first two are in such poor form, fidgeting and fretting, they were in no position to make such a fine judgment.

The greatest offender, though, was John Crawley, whose batting epitomises the technical quirkiness to be found and tolerated in county cricket. When the ball is outside his off-stump, he habitually reaches for it with his hands far away from his body, and without his head or eyes behind the line of the ball. It is not so very surprising that in his three Test innings in Perth, the highest scorer in England's first-class cricket last season should have made only four runs.

Only three members of England's touring party have really distinguished themselves on quick wickets in the past, one of them the retired Graham Gooch, another the injured Graham Thorpe. The third is Stewart, who is unable to open as he has to keep wicket and bat at No 4, often - as at Brisbane - when the spinners are in operation to aim at his Achilles' heel. An absurd situation was never more so than it was yesterday, when England possessed an attacking, hard-wicket opening batsman every whit as good as Michael Slater, yet could not deploy him until they were two down and tottering.

Stewart could have opened yesterday and given Atherton a breathing space at No 3 if England's selectors had chosen a reserve keeper capable of batting at seven in a Test. As they hadn't, Hick had to come in, prepared neither to bat nor to field at second slip, where he committed by far the easier of the two misses England added to their swelling collection. England keep on making space at No 7 by forcing Stewart to keep wicket, and still have nobody to fill it.

The opening session alone will long be burnt into England's memory, if not Ramprakash's chin. It was a return to the 1980s, when West Indians sent opponents in at Barbados, only to bomb them out. England could not last for 40 overs, and this time there was not even the sight of Robert Croft fending off the quick stuff to provide light relief.

McGrath's opening spell lasted 11 overs as Mark Taylor determined to seize the moment while the ball was still hard. If an England captain had dared to use his strike bowler for so long, the secretary of the bowler's county would have been writing a furious letter about flogging their man into the ground before he had finished his spell.

McGrath's attack came from the pavilion end as the wind was still blowing out of the interior, hot and drying, while Fleming had it initially for his outswing. But a half-volley from Fleming was enough on this occasion for Mark Butcher - not even a swinging one. To the same half-volley, Matthew Elliott would have put in a big forward stride and driven the ball down the ground, and Elliott cannot get back into the Australian team, even after making four hundreds in his three Shield games this season for Victoria.

McGrath made it 12 dismissals in 17 innings when Atherton twitched a catch to Ian Healy, flawless as ever. Most opening batsmen would no doubt have nicked the ball if they had played at it, whoever the bowler; but this was the first of several which could have been allowed to pass on grounds of length.

Like Butcher, Hussain may have been due to edge one after his fine work in the Brisbane Test, yet it still took a fine outswinger to provoke the error. The old Surrey bowler Peter Loader had promised Dominic Cork the previous day that the ball would out-swing from the pavilion end against the hot morning wind, and so it did, for McGrath, though, rather than Cork.

Roars of applause fit for a gladiator's amphitheatre greeted not only Stewart's dismissal after some handsome shots but also the bouncer which struck Ramprakash. He had no time to move his head out of the way, then the delay was so long that drinks were taken.

At noon, the flags veered right round and the Fremantle Doctor blew in from the Swan River. The hot wind out of the interior had been replaced by cold air born over the sumptuously dark blues of the Indian Ocean; and McGrath was similarly replaced by Colin Miller, whose medium-pace out-swing was enough to show up Crawley.

With his hands remote from his body, Crawley steered a chance just out of Steve Waugh's grasp at gully before obliging his brother at second slip in the following over. On a typical English pitch, Crawley might have had a couple of boundaries smashed off the back foot through point, but not here.

In the circumstances of 74 for five, and without a first-class innings for more than two months, Hick had as much chance as he had match-practice. And if he should ever reproduce his county form at Test level, it is not going to be in the lower half of the order, where clattering wickets can all too easily perturb him.

The injury to Ramprakash came when a short ball reared into his chin. Daryl Harper, the Australian umpire, had to lend Ramprakash his handkerchief to stem the flow of blood. Harper had stood in the England game against Western Australia when Butcher had required 10 stitches, and remembered that his wife had told him afterwards to keep a pair of gloves in his coat to protect against AIDS infection in future. After close of play yesterday, match referee John Reid observed: ``In contact sports you have to change your shirt if you get blood on it. He [Ramprakash] should have done the same.'' A note to the ICC will follow.

Wherever Ramprakash bats in England's order, he seems to be left stranded with the tail. On this occasion, he was blessed with Cork's company before lunch, and again most briefly after the interval. If open-faced steers in the direction of third man are the bread and butter of county cricket, they are the belladonna and butter of batting at the WACA, where the pitch is as hard as fired clay, which is in fact what it is.

It was immediately apparent that Alex Tudor was new to England's tail end as he batted sensibly and straight, a method which Darren Gough tried for a while and then tired of. In due course, Gough succeeded in steering a catch to the slips, as did Alan Mullally in getting himself out swiping for his second duck of the series.

Tudor's maturity was also evident in some fine balls, delivered with the right trajectory for this pitch. The drawback was that Mullally was unable to have a bowl downwind until the 34th over, by when the game had virtually gone. It will be a mercy if after this match England are only 1-0 down.

Day 2: Hick a big hit after fast blast from Tudor has Australia reeling

By Christopher Martin-Jenkins

THIRTEEN wickets made the first day of the WACA Test exhilarating enough but the pace became white hot yesterday afternoon as Australia collapsed from a virtually impregnable position, reasserted control in the field through Damien Fleming and then, in evening light of the purest clarity, reeled afresh before a volley of daring strokes by Graeme Hick.

It was cricket to refresh the soul. Australia still held a two-run advantage with only five more wickets to take but there had been a time when it seemed that the ground on which Barry Richards scored 325 in a 5.5-hour day, and Steve and Mark Waugh compiled the highest fifth-wicket partnership ever made, might also be the first to stage a two-day Test since Australia overwhelmed New Zealand at Wellington in the first season after the Second World War.

England managed to take the game into the third day not because Australia bowled any less venomously nor caught any less reliably than they had in blowing the batting away for 112 in the first 39 overs of the game on Saturday, but because they managed to some extent to learn from their mistakes.

The bounce off a good length, or just short of it, is so steep and fast that to anything but a straight ball the only absolutely safe stroke is no stroke at all. Mark Ramprakash took that in and, despite being cut on the chin in only his second over at the crease on Saturday by a nasty lifter from Glenn McGrath, he batted longer than anyone in both the England innings.

This may be the fastest pitch in the world by a distance but while its bounce is reliable, in this match at least the movement off the seam and the swing through the air make it one on which only the fullest half-volleys or the longest hops can be safely driven or pulled.

The bowler who has done best is by no means the fastest. Fleming had taken nine for 62 when he was rested after a new-ball spell of four for 14 in England's second innings yesterday, bowling hit-the-deck swing and seam of the type which Ken Higgs occasionally purveyed for England off a similarly economical run-up and with an equally strong body action.

For England, on the other hand, raw pace was the eventual answer, although Alan Mullally bowled with verve and no luck. The Australian wickets fell in a heap after lunch to bowling of high pace from both ends, a happy vindication of the decision, from which the tour selectors so nearly shrank, to give Alex Tudor his first Test cap at the age of 21. His immensely promising return of four for 89 on his debut was reward, too, for the foresight of the national selectors in picking him for the tour in the first place.

Australia, 150 for three overnight, made only 44 more runs in 30 overs in the morning as they battled against excellent bowling to extend an overnight lead already worth 38. Mark Waugh added a mere 15 to the 19 he had scored with breezy insouciance the previous evening. Never in command yesterday, he still played with great care and patience.

But he and his colleagues abandoned their careful approach after lunch with spectacular results. Trying to blast the new ball away but instead getting a potent dose of their own medicine, they lost their last six wickets for 46 in 10 overs against the second new ball.

Tudor bowled very fast and very well, too, and Darren Gough at last had some reward for bowling which has deserved better all tour. The slip catchers have let him down badly and when he himself dropped a straightforward high catch at long-leg off Tudor from Ricky Ponting's top edge, it was the sixth chance of varying degrees of difficulty which England had missed.

The most expensive of them reprieved Mark Taylor, dropped by Hick off Gough when 38, and Steve Waugh, who escaped a slash at Mullally when he was 11 which Mark Butcher at third slip could not lay a hand on. Taylor and Mark Waugh made similar chances look easy.

Hick and Butcher made amends during the afternoon crash which showed that Australia could be just as reckless under pressure as their opponents. Only Ponting, who may not have touched the ball from Tudor which climbed past his chest, was unfortunate. Until the second new ball, Taylor's sturdy innings and England's imperfections in the field had combined, it seemed, to remove any serious chance of an England recovery.

After the two bursts of vivid action in which they excelled yesterday, the new-ball blitz and the late flurry of strokes by Hick, England nevertheless started the third day with hope by no means abandoned. Even if they are easily beaten today, they will be able to draw considerable consolation from these two counter-attacks and especially from the emergence of Tudor.

Fleming dealt even more summarily with the start of England's second innings. Butcher was squared up and edged to third slip; Nasser Hussain was, given earlier rejections, unfortunate to be given out playing forward; and Stewart sliced a back-foot force off a thickish edge to Taylor at first slip.

Mike Atherton averted the humiliation which threatened at 15 for three, striking some handsome shots after tea before Fleming found his outside edge with movement off the seam on a good length.

For 16 overs, Crawley also played much more soundly than in the first innings until Colin Miller, turning to his off-breaks, made his first mark on the game with a ball which bounced and turned a fraction to take the inside edge of a defensive bat and carry via the pad to short leg.

In the 11 overs which remained, Hick made his long journey worthwhile. He square cut his first ball from Miller for four and, after Ramprakash had survived a confident appeal for a leg-side catch by a dissenting Healy off Miller, launched a magnificent assault on Jason Gillespie. In successive balls, all short but fast, he pulled over square leg for six, square cut for four and pulled again for a still more emphatic six, well in front of square and far into the seats on the Swan River side. For a crowd of nearly 18,000, it was a rousing finale.

Day 3: England suffer from dizzy spell

By Christopher Martin-Jenkins

ENGLAND batted until the stroke of the lunch interval yesterday but once the alliance of Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash was broken by Jason Gillespie, Australia's victory in the second Test became inevitable.

Robbed by the storm in Brisbane, they were not to be denied here after bowling England out in three hours on the first day, although they lost three wickets in making the 64 they needed and batting continued to demand razor-sharp reactions on a pitch which has cost the Australian Cricket Board an estimated £90,000 in revenue lost over the last two days.

The Waugh brothers saw Australia safely to the 1-0 lead they deserved despite a wicket each for Gough, Mullally and Tudor, whose first Test appearance has been the main consolation in an England defeat which leaves them with little realistic chance of regaining the Ashes. The end came at almost exactly the half-way point of the scheduled playing time, after 47 overs on the third day.

By batting for just on four and a half hours for his 47 not out, Ramprakash displayed once again his grit and watertight technique. Introvert that he is, he is content at five or six in the order but there is a case for his promotion to No 3 where, perhaps, he might be in a position to prevent a crisis starting rather than reacting to one which has occurred.

Hick again batted boldly yesterday, enjoying some luck on the way to the highest score of the match. A top-edged hook and an elegant off-drive off Glenn McGrath took him to 50 off 54 balls. He had been booked on a flight home last night but he will stay for the rest of the tour now and very probably take part in the remaining matches. His has been an extraordinary career from the start and by his resolute attacking batting here, he has extended it again. Graham Thorpe's back condition is still giving cause for concern.

Whatever Hick's shortcomings have been, only a batsman of genius could pull a bowler of Gillespie's pace off the front foot as he did on Sunday. But Gillespie provided the final thrust when, coming on for McGrath after he had bowled nine testing overs from the River End, he hurried Hick over another attempted force off the back foot and a thick edge flew to third slip.

Dominic Cork, despite being late on a hook and bruising his eyebrow as the ball lodged between his helmet peak and grille, kept Ramprakash spirited company for 10 overs until he missed an in-swinger of full length. Darren Gough lasted one ball, Alex Tudor two and Alan Mullally, somehow, four, before falling to a feckless slog played from a foot outside his leg stump. This was the man who had batted for 78 minutes in Cairns and said afterwards: ``We have got to get runs down the order. It turns games.''

Despite this sorry cave-in, England were not in the final analysis humiliated, but they have no excuses. Had they fielded first when the pitch was slightly damp after a brief late watering, it just might have been a different story but Alec Stewart admitted yesterday that he would have batted in any case had he won the toss and conditions were not that much more comfortable for batting on the third afternoon than they had been on the first morning. Eight more wickets fell in less than three hours of cut-and-thrust cricket yesterday.

Australia hit back from being one down in England last year to win three matches in a row and England showed a similar resilience last summer when one behind against South Africa, but it is hard to see them cracking the brazil-nut hardness of Australia's cricket now. With two good pitches expected in the next two Tests in Adelaide and Melbourne before the spinners get their chance in Sydney in early January, England's best chances may already have gone.

So far, only their bowlers have performed at their best. For this match at least, they could have done with Andrew Caddick's mean bounce in place of Cork's relatively innocuous swing but it is in batting and fielding that Australia have been so clearly superior. England lost by playing strokes inappropriate to the uniquely bouncy WACA pitch and, once again, by coming a poor second to Australia in the decisive area of close catching.

It has happened far too often, in both countries, for it to be a matter of chance. In two Tests to date, the first of which they deserved to lose, the second of which they did, the number of catches missed and half-chances not accepted is already well into double figures. In Brisbane, Michael Slater dropped a catch at midwicket; here, Steve Waugh was unable to cling on to a stinging hit to his left in the gully. Otherwise, Australia have been infallible.

This, really, was the difference at the WACA, where the slips and gullies were in constant expectation of the flying edge. A three-innings match over five days might have been a real cliffhanger on this pitch. Nine of the 13 Australian wickets and 14 of England's were caught behind the wicket on the off-side. Hick took a fine low catch yesterday and Mike Atherton, having stood at first slip throughout, held a blinder high to his left, the only chance he got all match. But Ian Healy, Mark Waugh and Mark Taylor are all so sharp they would catch horseshoe bats at dusk.

Much rubbish has been written in the Australian press about England. In the Rupert Murdoch-owned The Australian, one writer said they were ``psychologically devastated'', another that ``their ineptitude has been breathtaking and should lead to the inquisition to end all inquisitions''.

Taylor is better informed and much more realistic. He said: ``We're in a good position. I thought Perth and Brisbane would be the two pitches to suit their bowlers so I'm delighted to be one up but there are still three Tests to go. We've got the momentum at the moment but that can change so it's very important we don't let that happen. The one thing we did better than England in this game was to hold our catches.

``We've definitely got a psychological advantage; we've built it up over 10 years. But England played well at times in this game. Tudor did a very good job. I was hoping for a bit of loose stuff but he didn't bowl it.

``Provided we keep playing as well as we can, we're going to be very hard to beat. It's almost a belief that you know you're going to go out and take a wicket or you know you're going to get through a tough period when you're batting. If you don't have that belief, it won't happen. Player for player, we're a better side than England but that doesn't mean we'll always win series or matches.''

Having won this match, they will surely also win this series, or at least not lose it. Tudor's emergence as an opening partner for Gough has long-term significance, however, if England can somehow keep them both fit.