Australia played very well and must be taken seriously now as contenders for the World Cup. England were awful with the bat (50 runs below par on such a good and lively pitch), they dropped Mark Waugh from the first ball of Australia's innings and bowled without much inspiration. Mind you, the bowlers could hardly be blamed; they must be mightily miffed with their batsmen by now.
The main excitement of the evening came after dark when Mark Ealham, fielding at third man in front of the notorious old Bay 13, was peppered with objects thrown from the crowd.
Initially these were not malicious attacks in that they were not directed at the player; it was more they were gestures from a bored section of the crowd keen to attract attention to themselves. If that was their aim, it worked a treat.
Alec Stewart, that man of theatre, complained to the umpires and then set off to the Australian dressing room in search of his opposite number. Reluctantly, Warne came out on to the field, received a thunderous ovation, walked across the square and defused the situation by donning Waugh's crash helmet before requesting the nutcases to screw their heads back on.
He might as well have walked on water, so hugely is he revered in this part of town. They bowed and scraped as if he were the Messiah and not a peep came from them again during the rest of the game.
This does not set much of a precedent. Imagine the chaos if, every time a few idiots caused a rumpus, they got Shane Warne presented to them on a plate. The ground authority, or the police or the security guards, should have dealt with the problem anyone but a player and least of all this player.
Notwithstanding these awkward moments, Warne had a tremendous night. His captaincy in all three of Australia's matches to date has been a pleasure to watch. He challenges batsmen with aggressive field placings at every opportunity and uses his best bowlers, Glenn McGrath and himself usually, when they are most needed. By comparison, England looked sterile in the field, as if the life had been sucked from them when Graeme Hick put down that chance off the first ball.
Along with his other bowlers, Warne made life hard for the England batsmen by doing something with the ball, either spinning it or making it kick from a good length. McGrath and Damien Fleming were especially good and extracted considerable bounce from the pale brown, dry pitch, though McGrath's patience was severely tested by the edges which kept flying to - on one occasion over - the boundary.
England's batting was wracked by a mixture of confusion and the self-destruct button. Stewart appeared to have a train to catch; Nick Knight was caught by one of the most breathtaking efforts you will ever see. Ealham reacted to his unlikely promotion with an innings of 90 per cent slogs and 10 per cent the strokes of which he is capable.
Nasser Hussain, who showed that he is worth further consideration for England's World Cup squad, nevertheless managed to pull a long hop into the hands of midwicket. Hick chipped a straight ball straight up in the air and Neil Fairbrother fell to another blinding Australian catch. Adam Hollioake nicked a good one and Robert Croft was needlessly run out by an over-eager Hussain. Total 178. Not nearly enough.
The tone of the innings was wrong; too hectic, neurotic almost. If Stewart is to open the batting, he must set the tone by playing naturally, not frantically. He must remind himself that it is not against one-day law to play out a maiden.
The other night at the SCG against Sri Lanka, Australia played out two maidens and still scored 66 from the first 10 overs. On this occasion, Darren Gough and Alan Mullally allowed the Australian opening pair just a single from the first two overs but were unable to stop them taking control soon after. Adam Gilchrist hit three gorgeous boundaries in Gough's fourth over and Waugh went dreamily along, flicking here and caressing there, before raising his bat for fifty in only 62 balls.
His unbeaten partnership of 138 with Ricky Ponting was simply too good for England. Ponting is irresistible when somewhere near his best and an array of straight drives, strong-arm pull strokes and one memorable square drive gave the night a bit of colour and clearly illustrated that the Ponting of the early part of the Test series will not be the Ponting facing England in the coming weeks.
The old enemies are now level on points and they meet again in Sydney tomorrow. The match is sold out, and on yesterday's evidence, the Australian fans are likely to have a good night of it.