Michael Vaughan looked in record-breaking form on the first day of thesecond Test at Adelaide – until he was dismissed by what turned out to be the last ball of the day, after which the England wheels fell off in spectacular fashion.

In the end Vaughan did collect a record, but it won't be one he will be terribly happy to own. His 177 is the highest score made by anyone who ended up losing an Ashes Test by an innings. The previous holder of this dubious record was Herbert Sutcliffe, who made 161 at The Oval in 1930, only for England to lose by an innings and 39 runs. Don Bradman replied with 232 for Australia – in the innings which, legend has it, led to the Bodyline attack because The Don showed signs of fallibility against extreme pace after the pitch had been affected by rain. Vaughan, and the rest of the England team, must wish they were fallible enough to manage 232 on a bad day.

Only two higher individual scores have been made in an innings defeat in any Test, both by Englishmen. At The Oval in 1950 Len Hutton carried his bat for 202, which still wasn't enough to stop West Indies winning by an innings and 56. And at Bombay in 1992-93 Graeme Hick (remember him?) cracked 178, his first Test century – but India, for whom Vinod Kambli smashed 224, came out on top by an innings and 15 runs.

Click here for the Wisden Wizard list of the highest Test scores in defeat.

Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden.com.

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