Duncan Fletcher, England's coach, admitted that his side were paying for their injury problems after they had surrendered the initiative to Australia on the second day of the second Test at the Adelaide Oval. Fletcher said that the constant chopping and changing resulting from unavailability had taken its toll. "We want continuity so we can build some momentum," he reflected. "But, if suddenly you've got three or four new faces, then you have to make sure they have got the experience which should have been with the other players to continue the momentum."

"We've shown over the [English] summer that we can build some big totals. We can't hide from the fact that injuries have hurt us."

And now it seems that Michael Vaughan, England's sole batting success in their first innings, is hampered by a sore shoulder after being struck by Jason Gillespie yesterday. "Batting could be a slight problem for him at this stage," said Fletcher. "He's struggling to turn his arm over, it's sore and stiff, and he couldn't throw a cricket ball. It's badly bruised but it was checked this morning and there's nothing more serious than bruising."

Shane Warne was, understandably, far more upbeat after taking 4 for 93 as England's innings meekly collapsed in the morning session. "At Adelaide the first two days are excellent to bat on and it's hard work for the bowlers," said Warne. "But as you saw I got a couple of wickets this morning and day four and five are the best spinning days in Australia. Hopefully now we can get a bit of a lead and it might be hard work for England in the second innings.

"Today it all came out trumps. I got a couple to go and Jason Gillespie bowled wonderfully, then our batters got us off to a good start. It was disappointing to lose a couple of wickets, but Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn showed their class and on a good wicket there's no margin for error."

And he had some advice which England's bowlers would do well to heed. "If you don't bowl a good line or length you're going to get hurt."

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