We've won opening Ashes battle, says Waugh

Australian captain Steve Waugh is in no doubt that his side's humiliation of England in their Old Trafford one-dayer will have repercussions for the approaching Ashes series.

Waugh, clearly delighted after his bowlers dismissed England for 86 to secure a 125-run victory in their triangular series meeting on Thursday, said: "Naturally there will be a bi-product (for the Ashes) if we are winning and England are losing.

"It's hard to know how big an advantage it is but if you are losing, you probably have a few doubts."

England captain Alec Stewart, in contrast, appeared to be in a state of denial after the game, which has already condemned his side to watching the triangular series final between Australia and Pakistan from the sidelines with almost half the first-phase games still to be played.

He had no excuses, he said, admitting "they knocked the stuffing out of us" before listing a string of reasons why England had been unfortunate to be dismissed for the lowest score in their one-day history, extending a record losing run to nine in a row.

"I'm not going to use excuses but the fact is that they bowled well in helpful conditions," he said. "The between-innings rain made a difference.

"No excuses, but the ball certainly moved around far more. But they put the ball in the right areas. Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie were quite outstanding."

England's injury list, he added, had not helped. "With six players out, that's half the side and you are going to struggle."

SOME POSITIVES

And there were some positives, he said, justifiably praising his bowlers for limiting Australia to 208 for seven off their 48 overs, while arguing that test and one-day cricket were clearly different. "You have to segment the two styles of cricket."

Waugh, though, who said before the game that his side were still operating at 70 percent of its potential, would surely have enjoyed listening to Stewart's desperate attempts to make sense of the Old Trafford debacle.

Simply put, England were blown away by opponents who found sharp seam movement at top pace on a pitch which, despite the rain, provided a true surface for batting.

While England's strike bowlers of Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick had been impressive in reducing Australia to 27 for three at the start of their innings, McGrath and Gillespie were awesome, bowling throughout to a highly attacking test-cricket field of four slips and a gully.

England, after scratching 25 runs in the face of the Australian onslaught, lost three wickets for one run in six balls. After edging up to 40 for three, they then lost three more batsman without adding to the total.

OLD SCARS

Waugh, who had said at the start of the tour that he was keen to "re-open some old scars" early in the Ashes series, could not believe that Thursday's mauling would not leave some clear psychological marks, highlighting Michael Vaughan's golden duck in particular as his stumps were shattered by Gillespie.

He accepted that England were missing captain Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe at Old Trafford, saying: "They're two quality players and we won't get carried away."

But he added: "Gillespie's dismissal of Michael Vaughan, I think, was significant. We won a few battles today.

"Jason Gillespie has been out with injury but he's quality. He has pace and hits the seam every ball.

"We did everything we talked about in pre-match planning. There was a bit of experimenting and some things came of it. We felt we could expose their inexperienced batting line-up."

A line-up which included regular test batsmen Marcus Trescothick, Vaughan and Stewart, all-rounder Dominic Cork and bowlers Caddick and Gough, the occasionals Nick Knight and Alan Mullally and the up-and-coming test prospect Owais Shah.

The Ashes series begins on July 5. Australia, ranked the best side in the world in the newly devised world test championship, have won the last six Ashes series but England have turned around their fortunes under coach Duncan Fletcher by winning four and drawing one of their last five test series.

Waugh, however, was happy to concentrate on Thursday's satisfaction of having handed England a record beating.

"It's always nice to have those sort of things on your record," he said.

Mail Cricket Editor