England captain Nasser Hussain admitted that he had been mistaken to put Australia in on the opening day of the first Test against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane.

Australia declared their second innings on 296 for five, leaving England a winning target of 464, but they collapsed to 79 all out off just 28.2 overs to lose by 384 runs.

"We played poorly in parts and today was not very good," Hussain said. "We've lost in places like Sri Lanka and come back before, but Australia are setting the benchmark in world cricket at the moment and this will be our toughest test to date. We've just got to work hard in the nets and turn it round ourselves."

"I read the wicket wrong on the first day and the buck stops with me on that one," he added. "I just thought if there was anything in the wicket we needed our young bowlers to get something, but there wasn't anything in it."

However the Australian captain Steve Waugh revealed that he too had been planning to bowl if he had won the toss.

"We were planning to bowl," said Waugh. "There was a bit in the wicket but England didn't bowl well. The significance of the toss is overrated though. Whatever you do first you've got to do it well.

"There's no doubt England will find it hard to come back from this, it's a pretty devastating loss. But that's why you play Test cricket, to see whether you can come back from adversity, and they've certainly found themselves in a tough position now.

"In the end it'll probably be written up as an easy Test match win but we had to fight back hard on day three. I think England will have a lot more in store for us in the rest of the series. They've already shown that they can come back so there's no reason why they can't do it again."

Waugh was full of praise for Man-of-the-Match Matthew Hayden, who added a rapid 103 to his first-innings 197. "Matty Hayden is batting almost as well as anyone in the history of the game at the moment," he said.

"It was a pretty special Test match obviously, especially playing in front of my home crowd," said Hayden. "It's wonderful that you can get an opportunity to represent your country and then to achieve a milestone like that is something special."

© CricInfo Ltd.

This report does not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Cricket Board.