A grievous injury to Simon Jones overshadowed what, even by England standards, was a day of ritual humiliation by Australia's centurions Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting as the first Test got under way yesterday.

The 23-year-old Glamorgan fast bowler, in only his second Test, ruptured a ligament in his right knee while attempting a sliding stop in the field and was carried off on a stretcher. Jones's setback followed a serious rib injury sustained in his only previous Test, at Lord's in the summer, from which he has only just recovered. An early prognosis is that, although he will not play again for at least six months, he will make a full recovery. But such is the nature of these things that his international career may be on the line.

Jones had taken the only wicket of the match thus far when, four overs into the afternoon session, he chased an on-drive from Ponting and, in trying to slither in the modern way as he overtook the ball, appeared to catch his spikes in the wiry turf. He fell clutching his right knee and after some minutes was taken from the ground.

"It didn't really hurt that much, to be honest," he said later. "I just knew there was something wrong immediately and that I had to lay still and wait for (England physiotherapist) Kirk Russell to come on to the field.

"The ball went past me and I went into a regulation slide. The grass is different here - it's more sandy-based because they play Aussie rules football on the same surface - and my studs caught and I landed awkwardly on my right knee. I'd started the game well and was feeling good.

"In the previous matches I've built my pace up slowly, session by session, but this time I'd managed to get up to the 91-92 m.p.h. mark much quicker. Obviously I'm gutted, but it's something I feel I can get over."

A hospital scan revealed a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, which will require reconstructive surgery back home. Because of the condition, however, he will not be allowed to fly back to Britain for a fortnight and instead will join Darren Gough at the academy in Adelaide, where he will receive intensive anti-inflammatory treatment.

"His left knee dug into the turf and his right knee hyper-extended and twisted round," explained Russell. "It is the perfect way to rupture the ligament. He will make a full recovery."

The injury was just one feature of a calamitous day in which anything that could go wrong duly did. A bizarre decision by Nasser Hussain after he had won the toss was compounded by bowling that all too often strayed off line, dismal ground fielding, and the dropping of two catches by Matthew Hoggard and Michael Vaughan at a time when Hayden - first on 102 immediately after completing his 10th Test hundred and ninth in two years, then on 138 - appeared to be giving England every opportunity to take his wicket.

That they did not was galling after a considerable build-up and talk of getting the basics right; the derision of the largest first-day crowd at the Gabba was almost too much to take.

By midway through the day, as Hayden and Ponting were rattling along at a run a minute or better in compiling a second-wicket stand of 272 - the fourth highest partnership for any wicket against England in Australia - the spectators were chortling. By the close, with Ponting dismissed for 123 (fittingly, on a day of farce, bowled off his backside by Ashley Giles) but Hayden still there with 186, laughter had given way to the embarrassment that comes with watching Dave Brent in The Office. Yeah? Australia finished on 364 for two.

It is often unwise to comment too much on a decision after the toss until the wider picture is known. But an England captain finally calling correctly in Australia for the first time since January 26th, 1995, and then doing precisely what the opposition would have liked (Steve Waugh said nowt, but the drift was there) was incredible.

This is an area of severe drought. The pitch was rock hard, cracking already, the sky blue and the humidity low. England simply had to bat first. Hussain's reasoning - that anything at all for the bowlers would be there first thing - was flawed and, in indicating he would rather the Australian seamers did not get first use of it (never mind Shane Warne later in the match), defensive.

Some would point to, and draw strength from, Len Hutton's similar decision here 48 years ago, after which Arthur Morris and Neil Harvey made centuries as Australia made 601 and won by an innings. Hutton subsequently unleashed his typhoon, Frank Tyson, and took the Ashes. Hussain's typhoon, unfortunately, is in traction.

Until his departure, Jones had made as much impact as anyone in his side. Hayden and Justin Langer had already completed yet another half-century opening stand when he was given his first Ashes bowl and Langer edged his ninth delivery low to Alec Stewart.

Seven overs later Hayden, now on 40, hooked the first ball of a new spell by Hoggard, and although Jones, at long leg, caught the ball, he stumbled back towards the rope as he did so. His quick thinking as he threw the ball back into play was not sufficient to satisfy the law that the catch was complete and Hayden survived. Some days the right things just do not happen. This was one of them.