Butcher, the only England bright spot

You know things are bad when, 2-0 down after two matches of a five-Test series, a stop-gap selection heads your averages. Both batting and bowling.

Worse still, England's Mark Butcher doesn't normally bowl.

The left-hand batsman ended last season considering retirement -- "the only reason I didn't give up cricket was because I didn't know what else I could do" -- and began 2001 fighting to hold a place in Surrey's first team.

He was recalled to play Australia for his first Test in 18 months only because of a freakish run of injuries to senior players.

At Trent Bridge on Thursday, however, he will start the third Test with a healthy batting average of 45.75 against the best attack in the world. Number 10 Andrew Caddick is next with 31.

An occasional medium-pacer, Butcher also heads the bowling courtesy of a spell of four for 42 in the first test.

The 28-year-old puts his success down to a winter overhaul of his batting technique with his father Alan, who played one Test for England.

"I have done a lot of work during the winter...I have almost reconstructed my stance and grip and those sort of things and it seems to have really worked," he said.

"It was the sort of work that golfers go through all the time but cricketers rarely do."

In his four innings, Butcher has made 38, 41, 21 and 83. His success, however, is the only bright statistical spot for England.

The batting averages show four Australians over 75 per innings, with Adam Gilchrist on 121.

The bowling is as emphatic a reflection of the world champions' superiority, with leg-spinner Shane Warne taking 11 wickets at 15.81, Glenn McGrath taking 12 at 17.91 and Jason Gillespie 12 for 19.

Only Brett Lee, still not at his best following elbow surgery, has suffered, his four wickets costing 195 runs.

No England bowler, however, is averaging under 38 per wicket, and none of them has more than seven wickets. All-rounder Craig White, so impressive during the past year, has taken one for 181.

To top that, England have missed around a dozen catches in the first two tests, while Australia have set the standard, Mark Waugh to the fore after breaking the world record for catches by a fielder with 158.

There is only one surprising blip on Australia's chart of wall-to wall success.

Ricky Ponting, who averaged 99.33 in the one-day triangular series preceding the Ashes, has managed just 29 runs in three innings, his best 14.

Mail Cricket Editor