Australia won by seven wickets with over two days of the game to spare, wrapping up the match in just 21 overs of their second innings.

Michael Peschardt: Adelade Test will be England's best chance of a win

An explosive burst of fast bowling from Jason Gillespie had earlier prompted yet another England collapse - leaving the home side needing just 63 runs to secure a comprehensive victory.

They did so despite the early loss of openers Mark Taylor and Michael Slater.

Taylor was the first to go, edging an Alan Mullally delivery to Graeme Hick at second slip for three.

Rampakash and Butcher walk off after Australia won

Darren Gough followed Mullally's lead pitching up a quicker delivery which Slater played straight back to Gough for 17.

Test debutant Alex Tudor took the third wicket with an excellent ball pitched up to Justin Langer caught by Michael Atherton at first slip.

It was then left to Waugh brothers, Mark and Steve, to seal the win - something they achieved with ease finding numerous boundaries to leave England questioning their ability to compete against a superior Australian side.

Partnership then collapse

Resuming the day just two behind Australia on 126 for five, England appeared to have negotiated the dangerous early overs with Mark Ramprakash and Hick extending their valuable sixth wicket partnership to 91 runs.

Pat Murphy reports (BBC Radio 5 Live)

But Hick, who hit two sixes and eight other boundaries in his 68 off 73 balls, fell by edging Gillespie to third slip

Ramprakash and Dominic Cork added a further 31 runs before an all too typical collapse from the tourists.

Gillespie produced the most stunning display of fast bowling of the series so far to blow away the tourists' tail.

Graeme Hick: It would have been interesting if we'd scored more runs

Cork, who had shrugged off a knock to the head from Gillespie early in his innings, failed to get forward to a full-length delivery and was trapped leg before.

Alex Tudor lasted just two balls before edging the same bowler behind to wicketkeeper Ian Healy.

Darren Gough fell next ball, given lbw after shuffling across his stumps, to complete the over and leave Ramprakash with the responsibility of guiding last man Alan Mullally to the lunch interval.

Ramprakash successfully saw out the majority of the next over from McGrath, taking a single off the fourth ball and was forced to lecture Mullally after he tried an ambitious pull off the last delivery.

Damien Fleming: The wicket suited my bowling

Yet the Middlesex batsman, who had laboured for 270 minutes for his 47, ignored his own advice by taking a single off the first ball of Gillespie's next over.

It denied the Australian paceman a hat-trick but also exposed Mullally.

The end was as swift as it was predictable with Mullally swinging and missing at a slower ball which shattered his stumps and gave Gillespie four wickets in six balls and five for 19 from 6.2 overs.

Game lost from day one

Despite that second innings collapse, Stewart acknowledged that it was first innings batting that let England down.

Alex Stewart: Our batting was not good enough

They never recovered from making just 112 all out and although he paid tribute to the Australian bowlers, he was not afraid to criticise his under-performing batsmen.

"I thought McGrath and Fleming were outstanding, and we did not help ourselves by playing at balls we should have been letting go - we did not play as well as we should have done," said the England captain.

"That was one of the poorest performances in the first innings that I can remember from an England side."

Stewart acknowledged too that dropped catches did not help England's cause, although he again backed his team to improve.

"We have good catchers. Unfortunately we have shelled a few, and what we do is keep working before, during and after the games. Then hopefully we will start catching them."

But Stewart believes there is still a chance of England coming back.

"We came back from 1-0 down to beat South Africa last summer, and these are the sort of positives we have to keep in our mind," he said.

Graham Gooch: Disappointed with England's performance

Tour manager Graham Gooch added: "We paid the price for a very low score in the first innings.

"We needed a total about 100 in excess of what we got. Then we would have been in the game."

Gooch also paid tribute to England's attack: "I thought our bowlers performed admirably, both in Australia's first innings and then today. The bowlers dominated the bat throughout the Test match."

Aussie captain Taylor did not miss the opportunity to observe his team have proved their superiority.

"We are reasonably happy at the moment, because without the rain (in Brisbane) we would be two up in the series," he said.

But he admitted the series was far from won.

"The so-called experts will say the Ashes are over, but we went 1-0 down last year in England and won the next three Test matches.

"That's the way cricket is, but I can certainly see England coming back."

The next Test begins in Adelaide on 11 December. One issue that must be resolved before then is whether Hick has done enough in Perth to ensure that he stays with the tour.

The batsman was due to fly home this weekend, but a decision on his continued involvement in the series will be made in the next day or so.

Scorecard:

England first innings 112 all out (Fleming 5-46)

England Second innings:

M Butcher c Ponting b Fleming 1
M Atherton c Taylor b Fleming 35
N Hussain lbw Fleming 1
A Stewart c Taylor b Fleming 0
M Ramprakash not out 47
J Crawley c Langer b Miller 15
G Hick c Ponting b Gillespie 68
D Cork lbw Gillespie 16
A Tudor c Healy b Gillespie 0
D Gough lbw Gillespie 0
A Mullally b Gillespie 0

Extras 8
Total: (for nine wickets, 68 overs) 191

Fall: 1-5 2-11 3-15 4-40 5-67 6-158 7-189 8-189 9-189

Bowling: McGrath 26-10-47-0; Fleming 19-7-45-4; Gillespie 15.2-2-88-5; Miller 10-4-11-1

Australia first innings: 240

Australia second innings:

M Slater c&b Gough 17
M Taylor c Hick b Mullally 3
J Langer c Atherton b Tudor 7
M Waugh not out 18
S Waugh not out 14

Extras:5
Total: (for 3 wickets 21 overs) 64

Fall: 1-16 2-24 3-36
Did Not Bat: R T Ponting, I A Healy, D W Fleming, J N Gillespie, C R Miller, G D McGrath.

Bowling: Gough 9-5-18-1; Mullally 9-0-24-1; Tudor 5-0-19-1

Umpires: D J Harper and S Venkataraghavan