Australia 492 (Hayden 197, Ponting 123, Giles 4-101) and 296 for 5 dec (Hayden 103) beat England 325 (McGrath 4-87) and 79 (McGrath 4-36) by 384 runs
Scorecard

And so the Australian juggernaut rumbles on. In the end, this was an absolute annihilation, and there was nothing England could do about it. They defied gravity on the second and third days by competing hard with Australia, but the heat was turned up on the fourth and they were steamrollered for just 79. The margin of defeat was a crushing 384 runs.

Australia's outcricket was stunning, but England were almost as inept with the bat as they had been with the ball on the first day. After being set 464 to win following Matthew Hayden's second century of the match, they were demolished inside 29 overs. Four of the top six managed only one run between them; a fifth, Nasser Hussain, should have been given out before he had scored.

Any slim hopes England had of batting out 137 overs to save the match were shattered when they lost both their openers in the first 11 deliveries. Each man fell to his respective nemesis: Glenn McGrath trapped Michael Vaughan lbw for 0 and Jason Gillespie had Marcus Trescothick caught behind for 1.

Vaughan was unlucky – the ball was definitely going over the top – but Trescothick played a poor shot, edging a leg-cutter that was pouched one-handed by Adam Gilchrist in front of first slip (3 for 2). The Australians feel Trescothick is vulnerable outside off stump, and, as in the first innings, he fell playing at a ball he could have left alone. His feet did not move an inch.

Hussain (11) was given a couple of lives before he edged McGrath low to second slip, where Ricky Ponting took a fine catch (33 for 3). Then came the farce without which defeat would not be complete: Mark Butcher called John Crawley through for a suicidal single after Gilchrist missed a Shane Warne googly, and Crawley was well short when Gilchrist hit the stumps at the bowler's end with a marvellous pirouette and first-time throw (34 for 4).

Crawley was gone second ball for 0 – but that was one ball more than Alec Stewart managed. He bagged the first pair of his long Test career, caught magnificently by Hayden in the gully at the second attempt as he carved at Warne (35 for 5). To compound Stewart's misery, Hayden's celebratory throw cracked him on the shoulder on the way down. Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting showed eight years ago that Australia is not a place for old men, and at 39 this could be one tour too many for Stewart.

Hayden cemented a perfect day and a perfect match with another marvellous catch, low and two-handed at gully as White (13) scythed at McGrath (66 for 6). Next to go was Ashley Giles, squared up by the imperious McGrath and caught behind.

Butcher played spunkily for 40 until he fell to Warne, and the surrender was complete when Caddick hoicked Warne straight up in the air. England's total was their lowest in Australia for 99 years.

Earlier Hayden took Australia took 296 for 5 declared with another storming innings. He added 153 for the third wicket with Damien Martyn (64), and became only the second Australian to make two centuries in an Ashes Test on home soil, after Arthur Morris in 1946-47.

Hayden played some devastating cross-bat shots in his 103, including four cuts for four off Matthew Hoggard's first seven deliveries, and a pull off White's first ball of the day that went miles over midwicket, before choking a drive straight back to Giles (192 for 3).

It is hard to believe that, just two years ago, Hayden was nowhere. Then came a recall against the West Indies, since when he has flayed 2600 runs in 26 Tests at an average of exactly 65. And that's not all: Hayden has made a century in each of his last five completed innings in Australia.

Gilchrist was promoted up the order after Hayden's dismissal, and the prospect of a pair clearly gave him the fear: he put Giles over the sightscreen second ball. Giles did take another wicket when Martyn sliced to slip, where Hussain took a very sharp catch (213 for 4).

Steve Waugh looked in dreadful nick, fudging around for 12 off 42 balls before he fenced a short one from Caddick to slip (242 for 5), but Gilchrist kept up the momentum, smashing another huge six off Giles on his way to 60 not out off 59 balls.

Caddick (3 for 95) and Giles (2 for 90) were again the pick of the England attack by a long way, and between them they took 12 of the 15 Australian wickets to fall in this match. Giles (6) outdid Warne (4) in the wickets column, a fair effort on a pitch that had more cracks than Eddie Izzard. But as crumbs of comfort go, it wasn't particularly palatable: England were hammered here, and it is going to be a very long winter.

Rob Smyth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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