The Ashes: England v Australia fourth Test

Fourth Test, day three (close): Australia (445) have beaten England (102 & 263) by an innings and 80 runs and have levelled the Ashes series at 1-1.

Australia completed an innings victory at Headingley to level the Ashes series shortly after lunch on the third day of the match.

Five wickets for 69 by Mitchell Johnson and four for Ben Hilfenhaus dismissed England for 263 and handed Australia a convincing innings and 80 run victory.

It took a 108-run stand between Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad for the eighth wicket to extend the match into the afternoon session and provide the crowd with some entertainment.

Broad made 61 off 48 balls and Swann finished England's top scorer in the match with 62 but their thrilling stand could not hide the huge gulf between the two teams during this match.

England began the day 82 for five, 241 runs behind Australia, but scored quickly in the morning session following the early departures of James Anderson and Matt Prior.

Anderson fell to the second ball of the day when he edged to second slip and Prior had made 17 when he edged an outswinger from Ben Hilfenhaus and Brad Haddin took an acrobatic diving catch to leave England 120 for seven.

But Swann and Broad batted freely without the pressure of expectation to score runs with Stuart Clark taking a pummelling conceding 41 runs off three overs.

But the fun could not last and Broad's luck, he had twice been dropped in the deep, ran out when he pulled Peter Siddle to deep square leg.

Swann brought up his half century with a six off Siddle, who had earlier given him a barrage of short balls at the start of his innings.

But Swann was the first wicket to fall after lunch edging a drive off Johnson to the keeper and Graham Onions recorded a pair when he was bowled by Johnson to end the match.

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The Ashes: fourth Test, day two

Fourth Test, day two (close): Australia (445) lead England (82-5, 102) by 261 runs at Headingley.

Savour the memory of 2005. Keep the cassette or dvd on the shelf or even the attic. It could be a long time before England regain the Ashes.

At Headingley, England have been crushed, humiliated and found lacking in fundamental resolve. As it is bred in the bone, this is not something which a cricketer can learn or acquire. Hence Australia will surely keep the Ashes until a new, tougher generation of English cricketers emerges.

Everything else is detail by comparison with the truth that England have cracked under the greatest pressure known to cricketers, and the Australians have revived. England, 261 runs behind with only five wickets left, have not been able to bat or bowl when the heat was most intense, freezing as they had done in Cardiff. The only reason why they did not drop catches was because their bowlers could not pitch full enough to find the edge.

One such detail is Andrew Flintoff's omission: even if he was not medically fit, it might have been wise still to include him so the crowd would have been roused to some enthusiasm. On Friday, in a session, when a wedding became a wake, the crowd was mute throughout. The effect of Flintoff's exclusion was much the same as Darren Pattinson's inclusion last year.

Another detail, Matt Prior's back spasm, was the most distracting misfortune, and it stopped England fielding first, which might have been politic, though only with the wisdom of hindsight. But the alarm bells were sounding about the fragility of this England team, especially when lacking Kevin Pietersen and Flintoff, before the fire alarm in their hotel at dawn on Friday.

It has been a fast backward – not forward – to so many Ashes series of the past 20 years. The Australians will strut through the remnants of play today. England will simply try to haul what survivors they can from this wreckage and be thankful the Oval is not a back-to-back Test.

Whether Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell are in a fit state to survive for the Oval Test will be the most hotly debated issue, but the fact is that all of England's pace bowlers under-performed too.

There was so much lateral movement for the ball that was landed on a fullish length, as the Australian pace bowlers have demonstrated in both innings: Stuart Clark and Peter Siddle first time round, then Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Johnson in the second innings when they took five of England's wickets in only 44 balls. Relieved of the new ball and attendant stress, Johnson was the bowler of his advance publicity.

Not the least of Strauss's ill luck in this game was that the ball which dismissed him last evening cut back off the loosening surface, so dry has it been. Bopara might have been unlucky: the ball could have been faintly edged on to his pad. Bell was not unlucky but simply could not get on top of Johnson's hostility and steered to second slip. Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood could never be accused of being shrinking violets but they have had their deficiencies of technique exposed.

The Ashes supply the ultimate test of character for a cricketer, and England's bowlers have been no more successful here than their batsmen. Some of their figures were presentable, some were not, but all four failed to pitch the right length until the game was gone from England.

The quartet tried – Lord, how they tried – but, having seen their side humiliated for 102, they tried too hard for vengeance. As Australia went past England's first innings score and far beyond, they were as desperate as the lover who sees the object of his desire receding into the distance – and while there are more fish in the sea, there is only one urn.

Steve Harmison was never less than wholehearted and supportive. Shaping to fill Andrew Flintoff's boots, to be the senior pro, he went round each member of the team as they walked on to the field yesterday and gave them a pat on the back. But he was artless: built physically like Clark, he never bowled the same length.

As length has been everything in this game, and England blew it by bowling too short, the omission of Ryan Sidebottom could be considered a mistake. Australia would surely not have sailed into the lead if Sidebottom had taken the new ball and set an example, so that others followed rather than froze. And Harmison would have been ready to be released as the surprise weapon at the Oval, his favourite home Test ground.

It is impossible to say how handicapped James Anderson was after tweaking something in his left leg when he sprinted the single which extended his sequence of duckless Test innings. The official line is Anderson is fit; patently he was inconvenienced, and mentally too. Yesterday he was a perfectionist stressed and frustrated, unable to cope with imperfection.

Graham Onions, for a northern seam-and-swing bowler, has a poor record at Headingley: bad memories may stem from bowling at Darren Lehmann scoring 339 for Yorkshire.

Given the unprecedented way he had started the second day at Edgbaston, with two wickets, there was a case for starting with Onions yesterday instead of bringing him on after 90 minutes – unless he had been spooked by Leeds and Lehmann. He certainly bowled far shorter than ever he had done in his Test career.

Stuart Broad did not throw in the towel but, to achieve self-preservation, he bowled wide of off-stump until Australia were 300 ahead, which was avoiding the issue. Still, Broad lived to fight another day and cashed in by mopping up four wickets with the second ball.

Just when Strauss might have felt that the penny had dropped, Clark and North turned on the humiliation. North started it by slog-sweeping Swann for six to bring up his hundred. Models of application, Clarke and North were on a par with Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers here last year, except that North seldom required self-discipline as the bowling was so dreadful.

Clark then climbed in and straightdrove Swann for six, then hook/hoicked two more sixes off successive balls by Broad. Clark plays his cricket in the most exemplary way. At least, for England's sake, he did not then take a wicket but Johnson and Hilfenhaus did, five between them. And if Prior had not been dropped off Johnson's last ball of the day by North at third slip, the extra half-hour might have been claimed and England beaten in two days by an innings, the ultimate humiliation.

The Ashes: fourth Test, day one

Fourth Test, day one: Australia (196-4) lead England (102) by 94 runs at Headingley.

England saw their Flintoff-free future on Friday – and it did not look pretty. Forced to patch up the hole left by their all-rounder after he was dropped by the captain and coach, they weakened the batting and were promptly bowled out for 102, a total that has badly jeopardised their Ashes ambitions after Australia closed on 196 for four, a lead of 94 runs.

To make matters worse, England’s feeble batting was compounded when their bowlers dropped too short with the new ball, an elementary error against cutters and pullers of the calibre of Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson. Both batsmen passed fifty in fairly swift order as England’s total was overhauled in the 23rd over.

Hampered by a niggle to James Anderson’s left leg, which he suffered while taking a quick single to get off the mark, Andrew Strauss began by starting his opening bowlers at the wrong ends.

Having watched Australia’s swingers, Ben Hilfenhaus and Stuart Clark, trouble batsmen from the Kirkstall Lane End and Peter Siddle gain steepling bounce from the Rugby Stand End, he gave Anderson the latter and Steve Harmison the former.

Later, Harmison was switched and looked a handful as he terrorised Michael Clarke, who was lucky to survive after he was struck on the flap of his glove while on 27.

It was a decision England, barely staying in touch, could have done with but umpire Asad Rauf decided it had come off Clarke’s forearm.

The reprieve allows him and Marcus North to continue their patient partnership on Saturday, one that England must break quickly to have the slightest hope of salvaging this match.

Realistically, England need to bowl Australia out by an hour after lunch at the latest to keep them in sight.

England’s score was their second lowest against Australia at Headingley since the 87 they made in 1909. Uncovered pitches were in play then, which could ruin a team in a session if the elements conspired against you, but there was not much of that on Friday.

Australia’s bowlers did move the ball around but the most turbulent conditions were clearly in England’s heads, following a disruptive build-up that included the Flintoff saga, a fire alarm going off in their hotel at 4.50am, and Matt Prior sustaining a back spasm an hour before the start.

Prior’s problem happened during a game of football in the warm-up, and it was bad enough for England to ask Australia if they could delay the toss by 10 minutes to consider their options.

With no spare keeper, these seemed to be for Paul Collingwood to keep wicket and Jonathan Trott to make his debut and bat at six.

After treatment and a fitness test Prior declared himself able to play, something Flintoff had also done with a very different response from management. Basically they were prepared to take Prior’s word for it but not Flintoff’s, which suggests they have moved on, even if the team have not.

If Prior was hampered, it did not really show until the afternoon, when he conceded four byes off Harmison after the fast bowler fired one down the leg side.

But others were affected, notably Paul Collingwood, who forsook his morning batting practice to dust off his wicketkeeping, which might explain his disorientation during his brief innings.

Through this turmoil England chose to bat after they had won the toss – fair enough given the dryness and straw colour of the pitch. But if one team had prepared to bowl first it was Australia, after they had dropped their spinner to play Clark, their tallest pace bowler.

Whether Darren Lehmann, of Yorkshire and Australia, had marked their card about the conditions (he has been spotted in deep conversation with several Australian players over the past few days), Clark’s introduction was crucial to Australia’s excellence here, their best day of the series.

Peter Siddle may have grabbed more scalps with his five for 21, but it was the probing Clark who spread doubt among batsmen.

Clark niggles away at the pace and place least liked by England’s batsmen, something borne out by his three for 18. With occasional seam and swing spicing his accuracy, Clark had Collingwood caught at second slip, Alastair Cook caught at first and Stuart Broad grabbed by Simon Katich at short leg.

Clark’s control allowed Siddle to be aggressive, especially in his second spell which brought him the remarkable figures of four for 11 in 29 balls.

Earlier, with the new ball, he had dismissed Strauss with the last ball of his second over, the England captain’s wild drive to a ball at least a foot wide of off stump, betraying the added pressures of an Ashes series.

Strauss was lucky to have survived that long and only the late George Carman might have been able to make a case why he was not lbw Hilfenhaus to the first ball of the match.

The captain’s shot was not the sole poor one. Only Prior, who was left stranded on 37, showed the judicious shot selection required when the ball is nibbling about, though even he rode his luck, scything it through and over the slip cordon.

With Cook, Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell slow to address their shortcomings, Australia have long believed that England’s batting was an accident waiting to happen. On Friday, in useful conditions for bowlers, the pile-up occurred.

England v Australia: scoreboard