Australia came home from the 2009 tour of England believing they had lost the Ashes in the space of two hours. On Friday in Adelaide they went a long way towards losing them inside 11 minutes.
That’s how long it took for Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke to be out on the first morning, sliding the Australians to an inconsolable 3-2 before many of a sold out crowd of 38,615 had made it to their seats.
Despite the best efforts of Mike Hussey (93), Brad Haddin (56) and Shane Watson (51), they could do no better than to take the hosts to a clearly inadequate 245.
England negotiated one over to be 0-1 before the close.
“It was all happening very quickly, I couldn’t really believe it to be honest … before I blinked I was out there in the middle,” Hussey said of the start.
“I was actually looking forward to having an nice relax for a couple of hours watching the first session.
“I was upstairs watching, obviously not for very long.”
The worst of the damage was shared between the impeccable Jimmy Anderson (4-51), the wily Graeme Swann (2-71) and the hapless Australians (two run outs), who lost their last five wickets for 38 after a finish of 5-31 in Brisbane.
“It was a hugely satisfying day for everyone,” said Anderson.
“To come to a ground which is a notoriously flat pitch with big first innings scores I thought it was great for everyone to keep them to such a low score.”
After two wickets fell across the final two days of the first Test, Ponting had every right to expect a strong start when he won the toss on a glorious morning in Adelaide.
Instead he was the middle man in the direst beginning to an Australian Test innings since being 3-1, also against England, on a wet wicket at Sydney in 1936.
It was the worst start to any innings since Australia were 3-0 against England in their second innings of the 1950 Brisbane Test.
The drama began fourth ball of the match when a mix-up between the openers allowed Jonathan Trott to throw the stumps down from midwicket and send Katich on his way without facing a ball – a diamond duck.
Ponting walked in and first ball pressed forward at Anderson’s teasing away swing, the edge pouched neatly by Swann at second slip – a golden duck.
Clarke (two) secured Australia’s first run, but in the third over he pushed uncertainly at another exemplary outswinger from Anderson and presented Swann with his second catch.
The early flurry was given greater significance by the remainder of the session, which saw Hussey and Watson gain confidence on a surface that became increasingly docile.
Watson, more adept at handy Test innings than huge ones, had added only one more run since lunch when he drove at Anderson and sliced to backward point.
Marcus North (26) managed to ease past his habitual score between nought and 10 but was unable to go on to anything substantial, cuffing Steve Finn (1-71) behind to raise serious doubts about his place.
Hussey had reached the cusp of a century when he drove at a Swann off break that turned enough to find an edge to slip.
Next ball Ryan Harris was beaten by an off-break and LBW, though his appeal against the decision indicated the chance of an edge and also that the ball may have missed leg stump.
While Xavier Doherty averted the hat-trick, his batting did not inspire confidence in Haddin, who set off for an ambitious single only for his partner to be run out.
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