England 184 (Gough 39*) lost to Australia by an innings and 25 runs
In the beginning there was no Baggy Green cap. But as Australia walloped their way to an innings victory at The Oval, and a 4-1 defeat of England, that was difficult to believe. They are just so inevitable, so overwhelming and so good that they must have been planning this campaign since the beginning of time.

The last rites were delivered, just before tea, by Glenn McGrath. He sent down another beauty of a ball, Phil Tufnell prodded, and he was caught by Shane Warne at second slip. It was an apt finale – McGrath and Warne had been England's tormentors both throughout the series, and today they were Lillee and Thomson, only with slightly less hair. Warne delighted the crowd but befuddled the batsmen with the slider, with the legbreak, with the what-on-earth-is-this ball. And at the other end McGrath was undertaking an examination of the batsmen with the pinpoint pedantry of a pernickety schoolmaster.

At 11 o'clock, England had been full of hope. Their new-fangled middle order had found some balls in the last week. What did it matter that Atherton was out when you had Marcus Trescothick and Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher?

It mattered a lot, especially when Australia came out onto the field brimming with two sessions' worth of unvented testosterone. The demolition began in Warne's second over when Butcher gave a pad-bat catch to Steve Waugh at silly point and was out for 14 (46 for 2).

In the next over it was McGrath's turn. Trescothick was dropped by Ricky Ponting, standing in for Mark Waugh at second slip, but McGrath didn't sulk and the very next ball produced an unplayable 85mph snorter which flew off the pitch like oil tossed into a hot frying pan. Trescothick followed his instincts – ie tried to protect his face – and merely succeeded in gloving the ball back to McGrath. He was gone for 24 (48 for 3). Nasser Hussain followed, trapped lbw for 2 in Warne's next over (50 for 4), and England had lost three wickets for four runs in 16 balls.

There was a brief respite, as McGrath and Warne just showed off their wares. But England have always found them irresistible – and Usman Afzaal was tempted by McGrath. He drove at a wide one, and was caught by Ponting at second slip. He was out for 5 and just had to cross his fingers that his plane ticket for India had already been booked.(55 for 5)

Ramprakash and Alec Stewart, Surrey new and old, resisted as well as they could – Stewart straight-driving McGrath and Ramprakash shoving him through the covers – but the net was tightening. The Aussies knew they needed just one more wicket to expose the tail.

They were sure they had got Ramprakash out, caught off the glove off Warne, and weren't shy about telling everyone about their misfortune. Subsequent replays proved the umpire right, and the match referee might yet spoil the Australian celebrations with a fine or two. But it didn't really matter as Ramprakash was gone in Warne's next over as he tried to cut a legbreak and was brilliantly caught by Matthew Hayden in the gully (95 for 6).

Stewart and Andy Caddick then tried to recapture the magic of their stand at Edgbaston. They flailed around before lunch and for half an hour afterwards – but looked about as comfortable as a couple of vicars caught munching on the communion wafers while dressed in leather. Warne was spinning whoppers out of the rough, and Brett Lee was sprinting in delivering the sort of 90mph reverse-swinging yorkers which Steve Waugh has been promising us his baby exocet would serve up all series.

They had cobbled together 31 when Stewart completely misread a legbreak from Shane Warne. He shoved his pad out, and lifted his arms, but the ball spun like an out of control pendulum and moved from the rough outside leg stump to hit the top of off stump. Warne had toyed with poor Stewart like a kitten with a mouse; if it was Stewart's last innings for England, it was a brute of a way to go. He was out for 34 (126 for 7).

The first ball of the next over Brett Lee stormed in and bowled Caddick with a 91mph special. It was a dismissal that came as no surprise to the crowd who had seen Caddick back away from Lee like a terrier from a bucking horse. Caddick had made 17 and England were 126 for 8.

Jimmy Ormond and Darren Gough enjoyed the sunshine for a while. Gough dispatched a rare overpitched delivery from Warne to the boundary with a customary flourish and then hit Jason Gillespie and McGrath for consecutive boundaries as he moved to the highest score of the innings. Ormond slowly found some confidence and they had put on 59 before McGrath, brought on to replace Warne after 26 consecutive overs at the Vauxhall end, persuaded him to edge behind. Then it was Tufnell and two balls later the game was Australia's.

McGrath had five wickets in the innings, Warne had 11 in the match, Waugh and Waugh had centuries – the A team had produced the goods and England had wilted.

Tanya Aldred is assistant editor of Wisden.com

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