England's faceless batting cost them a game they should have won comfortably and Graeme Hick, who was idiotically run out off the first ball of the penultimate over, may well still be sitting in the dressing room now aghast at the ineptitude of those who failed him. He made his third masterful century of the competition and it was a travesty that it did not help to win the match.
Shane Warne, who put on another of his glittering shows, was England's tormentor in chief. He bowled beautifully throughout but his final three overs, which cost just 10 runs - one a six by Hick after Stuart Law had dropped him at long-on the previous ball - and captured two wickets, were out of the old box of magic. The zip was there again, the steep bounce and the exciting spin. He wrapped up Mark Elham as if he were a novice and denied Hick so cleverly that the run rate soared.
Impressively as Warne bowled, however, it was his intuitive and bold captaincy which again caught the eye. In all he used eight bowlers - and neither Greg Blewett nor Mark Waugh were among them - in an effort to break England's rhythm but always ensured that something was in reserve from both himself and his trump card, McGrath.
England were cruising at 162 for two when McGrath was recalled to bowl the 35th over. Immediately he trapped Nasser Hussain plumb in front and in the 37th over he brushed Neil Fairbrother's off-stump with a corker from around the wicket.
Still, with John Crawley to accompany Hick England should have got home. But Brendon Julian pulled off a wonderful return catch to stun Crawley and the animated crowd thought it was Christmas when he pulled off another, admittedly simpler one, to get rid of Robert Croft first ball.
After Darren Gough had thrashed wildly at Warne it was left to Headley to keep cool and give Hick a chance to go it alone. Alas, Headley hit McGrath back down the pitch, called for the single and in a blind panic changed his mind too late for the stranded Hick to recover. Warne's challenging field placings and the intelligent use of his bowlers had played on the minds of the England batsmen - ultimately he broke their hearts.
Warne had begun the day well by winning the toss and choosing to bat on another good Adelaide pitch. The general view was that Australia's total was no better than par. England bowled pretty well, especially early on when Gough got his tactics dead right against Adam Gilchrist - this was the fifth time Gilchrist has been bowled in seven matches - and the out-of-touch Blewett who missed an attempted drive. Alan Mullally played the most reliable of second fiddles to Gough, who hugged him once in appreciation. Meanwhile Croft wheeled away skilfully, particularly to Darren Lehmann who appeared to be on a mission to smash the Glamorgan off-spinner to Swansea and back.
Mark Waugh made another enjoyable 50, his sixth in seven innings, but, as Alan Border observed, a batsman oozing Waugh's class really ought to make bigger scores once he is so set.
Law's return to the team has not gone well which will be a surprise to Essex fans and after he was the third wicket lost in a bad five over spell for Australia, it needed a thoroughly sensible partnership from Damien Martyn and Shane Lee to give Australia an acceptable total at which to bowl. Martyn's only previous 50 in one-day international cricket was at Lord's in 1993 and his career has rather stuttered since then. If he continues to bat as efficiently as he did yesterday he may well be back in England with their World Cup team.
Exciting as the World Cup will be, it is clear that for the moment Australia have their minds focused on winning this triangular tournament. They picked up the pace over the weekend and enter the final stages of the qualifiers in good form. England have lost two games they ought to have won in Adelaide and must beat Sri Lanka in Perth on Friday if their confidence is not to falter.