Ashes turn to dust for England as Australia wins the mind games in Adelaide

Having spent the last five days in Adelaide, where one of the more extraordinary matches in Test cricket was played out to its remarkable conclusion yesterday, I have seen that this is undeniably true.

There is not much between the two sides technically

In terms of technical proficiency there is actually not much to choose between the two sides. Each has one world class batsman (Ponting and Pietersen) and two exceptional all-rounders (Flintoff and Warne). The Aussie side overall is much more experienced, but aging. The England side has some bright young batting talents along with a fast bowling attack (Harmison, Hoggard and Flintoff) which has delivered good results in the recent past. If Monty Panesar had been selected ahead of Giles they would have had a young spin bowler who might have exploited opportunities rather better than his older compatriot.

England initially bounced back well from the Brisbane shambles

At Brisbane in the first Test England were blown away - first by Australia exploiting their winning of the toss by posting a mammoth First Innings score of 602 and then by collapsing to 157 all out in their own first innings. Ricky Ponting's weird decision not to force the follow on gave England the chance to recover and their second innings 370 was encouraging and respectable. At Adelaide it was thought that the toss would again be all important and when Flintoff called correctly and batted the huge total of 551 for 6 declared seemed to ensure that at the very least the match would be drawn. Although Australia almost matched England's total on a benign pitch which offered little help to the bowlers the match seemed destined to be a high scoring draw. On to Perth one down, but with their heads held high and all to play for.

England were rabbits caught in the Aussie headlights

Even the most pessimistic England fan did not expect England's second innings performance to be so dire that Australia would be presented with an opportunity to force a win. But against the same bowling attack that had conceded over 550 runs in two days, and on the same pitch, England contrived to be all out for 129 in 73 overs. The magical Warne so conned, bamboozled and frightened the batsmen that only a day or so after having posted the worst figures of his career (1 for 167) in the second innings he took 4 for 49 and effectively won the match for Australia.

England lacked self-belief, Australia had it in truckloads

For four days England played well in Adelaide. True they couldn't dismiss Australia for a total in their first innings that would have given them a real advantage (although if Ponting had been caught by Giles when he was 35 that would have been different). But they stood toe to toe with the Aussies and gave as good as they received. Some fine innings were played (by Bell, Collingwood and Pietersen) and Hoggard bowled heroically and skilfully. Australia relied on Ponting's imperious form, Clarke's emerging brilliance and Hussey's solid batting to come close to England. The Aussie attack looked tired and unimpressive - the excellent Stuart Clark excepted. So with one day to go all was set for a gentle few hours of batting practice for England's top five, a handshake and an honourable draw. But Ponting and the inimitable Warne saw it otherwise. England apparently looked nervy when they arrived at the ground on Tuesday morning and if they had the sniff of fear in their nostrils the Aussies quickly picked it up and exploited it.

Australia turned their confidence into performance

And so on a pitch that was still benign, and against a batting line up that had dominated them only a few days earlier, Australia created a situation in which every England batsman either became paralysed with fear or unwisely tried bravado to escape. The scoring rate on Tuesday was a paltry 70 runs in 54 overs and it was the failure to score runs, as much as the failure not to lose wickets, that cooked England's goose. Along the way there was a dim run out and some unwise stroke play - all, of course, brought about by Australia tightening the already very tight screw.

Australia believed, England feared. And in such circumstances it is always the team that believes that wins. The Aussies fully deserved their win - but for England the Ashes are all but gone, scattered on the ruins of their indecision and dread.