Clinically, it was all over at Lord's with half an hour still to go before lunch.

A couple of second innings hiccups for Australia that will give them reason to ponder on the immediate future of Ricky Ponting as Darren Gough and Andy Caddick gave it one last brief hurrah and then Matthew Hayden clipped the ball back past Caddick for the winning run to spark off the celebration.

Ten minutes later, on the outfield in front of the pavilion, Glenn McGrath was pronounced man of the match for his bowling masterclass that brought him three more wickets for spit yesterday and eight in the match, but it could as easily have gone to Mark Waugh for his sublime century and the simple catch pouched at second slip which gave him his world record and finished off the England second innings.

There had been some optimistic if-only rumblings from the England camp on Saturday evening after the Marks, Butcher and Ramprakash with some outstanding batting against wonderful bowling, had hauled their side back to within 51 of Australia.

However, McGrath had done for Ramprakash with the close in sight - a vital wicket - leaving Butcher with Alec Stewart, who has not batted with any authority in any of the dozen matches since his century in his 100th Test, and a lower order that has rediscovered the art of collapsing.

So in little more than an hour, McGrath and Jason Gillespie swept England away for 227, the last six wickets falling for the addition of 64 more runs yesterday just as they had tumbled for 66 in the first innings.

There was no way back from there: Craig White had allowed McGrath's hat-trick ball to pass outside off-stump, and then for 39 minutes threw the bat gamely, hitting five fours in his unbeaten 27 and giving England a lead. Gillespie, though, was too much for Caddick and Gough, a nice little bonus that gave him figures of 5 for 53.

Australia were left just 14 to win their second match of the series, a formality but testing nonetheless for those charged with performing the task.

Gough roared in, as he had all match, and hustled Hayden while at the other end Caddick, pulled once by Michael Slater, then found a snorter that Butcher snaffled at second slip.

One more twist saw Ponting, brilliant in the one-day series but under pressure for his Test place, lbw to Gough before Hayden polished things off.

How ironic that Butcher should have taken his catch with such aplomb. It spoke volumes for the pressure that bears down while playing against perhaps the finest team of them all.

So far in this series, England have cost themselves almost two complete Australian innings in chances, half chances, stumpings, run out attempts and, on Saturday a catch taken off a no-ball. That third day was as bad as it gets with Adam Gilchrist, on 13, dropped at slip by Butcher off Gough's first ball and three more times besides before he hurried, embarrassed from the field having made 90.

At Edgbaston, he was missed when 14 and made 152. You just cannot do that: Australia have better batsmen and better bowlers but in this series the starkest difference, as Steve Waugh points out, has been in the catching.

At Birmingham, in a way, Gough and Caddick deserved what they got. But not here where both were heroic with Gough in particular driven almost to tears by the injustice of it all.

Already David Graveney and his selectors must be casting their minds ahead to the third Test at Trent Bridge, in the knowledge that a draw there would clinch the Ashes for Australia.

The time for dismantling things has not yet been reached, but several issues need serious discussion. The first of them will become more apparent today when Graham Thorpe visits a hand specialist ( England have a season ticket) following an inconclusive X-ray on his right hand that suffered a pasting during Brett Lee's inspirational and rousing spell to him on Saturday afternoon.