England began the third day at Lord's with a minor hope of pulling off an upset and ended it facing a heavy defeat in the opening Test of the series, stumbling to 156-5 at close of play.

They still required a monumental 264 runs to win the Test match, after Australia had been bowled out for 384 in their second innings. The scale of the task is measured by the fact that the target of 420 would be the highest total ever made to win an Ashes Test.

England had begun well in reply, with Marcus Trescothick (44) and Andrew Strauss (37) putting on 80 for the first wicket. But after Strauss had fallen to Brett Lee, four more wickets tumbled in quick succession, until Kevin Pietersen (42*) came out and put the other England batsmen in the shade.

While Michael Vaughan (4) was caught on the crease, playing neither forward nor back, Pietersen's confident mindset was evident in the way he took the attack to Australia. He played Shane Warne better than anyone else, striking him for boundaries through the off and reading his variations well.

Trescothick, in contrast, was flummoxed by Warne's variations. He survived two strong lbw shouts and eventually followed a ball that drifted away to the slips. Ian Bell was also a victim of indecision against the legspinner, padding up to a straight ball and plumb lbw. Andrew Flintoff, trying to cut Warne to the boundary, edged into the safe mitts of Adam Gilchrist.

Pietersen's duel with Lee, who touched speeds in the mid-nineties, was thrilling to watch. One in-swinging full toss struck him on the pad and looked to be lbw, but the batsman was enraged by the unorthodox delivery. A fiery reply from was on the cards and he duly pulled Lee for a huge six into the stands.

It would take something extraordinary even by Pietersen's standards to win this game for England after Australia's tail wagged in the morning against an England attack lacking some of the intensity and aggression they showed in the first innings.

Australia added a dispiriting 105 for the last three wickets. Simon Katich (67) made the bulk of the runs in his technically accomplished accumulative style, each one edging Australia further and further out of England's reach. England sensed the match was going away from them and, hard as they tried, lost their focus.

Their crushing disappointment, after the build-up to the game and the excitement at bowling Australia out cheaply on the first day, was understandable. The despondency spread to their body language and then to their fingers as three easy catches went down.

Jason Gillespie (13), who shared a 71-minute half-century stand with Katich, was dropped by Geraint Jones diving to his right. Then Glenn McGrath (20*), who put on 43 with Katich, was spilled by Andrew Flintoff at second slip and again by Jones diving forward. On each occasion the unlucky bowler was Simon Jones.

Sensing a heavy defeat which would severely dent England's confidence, Australia came hard with the ball and built up pressure with their bowlers' contrasting styles of attack. Lee targeted the batsmen with skiddy bouncers, McGrath moved the ball beautifully off a length down the Lord's slope, and Warne bamboozled the top order with his variations. Only Jason Gillespie was ineffectual, but it hardly mattered with the others bowling so well.

Trescothick and Strauss did well to survive the opening spells of Lee and McGrath with the new ball. Inevitably they played and missed often, but they also maintained a positive intent, put the bad ball away, and went in at tea with 65 runs between them.

But even at that stage the seeds of destruction had been sown. Trescothick had survived two close lbws against Warne and Strauss had also been struggling to pick his variations.

23 Jul, 2005