Why it all went wrong

SECOND DAY.

The old vet loses control and actually phones, which must be a sign that the Lotto money has gone to his head. "Did you ever see such batting?" he asks. He is very angry. "Prior has not got a shot, keeps moving across his wicket and allowing himself to be hit. At least Swann knows how to play but by that time Johnson is so much in the groove Bradman could not stop him. It is the worst England batting I have seen for years."

To lunch. Everything goes swimmingly to 78 until Johnson suddenly produces a spell of four wickets - Cook, Trott, Pietersen and Collingwood - that makes my predictions of an easy England win are doomed. Lunch at 119-5.

To tea England all out 187, an Australian devil score, after Johnson also disturbs the tail with a soft, old ball and finishes with 6-38. All right, half his wickets are gifts but as he hardly got the ball past the bat in the first Test and is dropped for the second, it's a great performance.

To close Finn struck twice and now has the second best Test strike rate in history. Hughes is hardly more than a gimme but when Prior caught Ponting down the legside he waited for a referral before marching off in a fury. How much longer will the selectors tolerate his lack of runs? He could be finished if his men lose this match and the Ashes fly home to Lord's again. By the end of the second day Australia are sure to win. Just like England yesterday so don't cry just yet.

Jo King, Queen of the Important Stat, says: Finn has 45 wickets in his 11 Tests, at 25.73 with a strike rate of 39.32 compared with old-timer Lohman who had 112 wickets in 34 balls each. Not all his victims turned out to be Test stars. Five more wickets and Finn will have beaten Botham's record of 50 wickets at 22 years and 261 days. Finn will not be 22 until April 4.