After Australia had completed their innings victory in the second Test at Adelaide, Steve Waugh claimed that Nasser Hussain's decision to treat him as a tailender had backfired. Hussain had set a spread field for Waugh's batting partner, Ricky Ponting, to encourage him to take the singles on offer. He defended his tactics, saying: "That was basically [about] a bloke who was 150 not out and another bloke who was struggling a bit. We had the new ball and I knew who our team would rather bowl to at that moment.

"I would have done it to any player in that similar situation," added Hussain. "Australia would have done the same to any England player in a difficult situation. You have to capitalise if one player is going well and the other is struggling for runs a little bit."

"I wasn't insulted but it got me going a bit," said Waugh. "I love a good contest and, in some ways, when something like that happens it does fire you up a bit more, so I think probably in a funny sort of way it did me a favour." Waugh was dropped when 1, but went on to make 34 from 40 balls as Australia declared on 552 for 9.

Australia's victory was their 10th in 11 Tests, the last defeat coming against South Africa at Durban in March. Waugh, however, did not believe that his team's record of 16 consecutive wins would ever be threatened.

"You need a bit of luck to get there, a bit of help," he said. "But if you score quickly, you take the [risk of] rain out of the equation, which we've done here. When we play aggressively we have more chance of winning more Test matches, but I don't think anyone will get 16 [wins] again."

The final day's play was made memorable by a stunning diving catch in the outfield from Glenn McGrath, who clung onto Michael Vaughan's lofted sweep while at full stretch.

"It was a miracle," said Waugh. "We weren't expecting him to catch it and neither was he. It was a great catch. He gave it everything and he came up with the ball so it was pleasing, it was a pretty important wicket, they had a good partnership going and had some momentum. And to take it away from England then was great timing. Those catches can turn matches and they do give the momentum back into your favour."

McGrath himself admitted that he had been slow to spot the ball as it left Vaughan's bat. "It took me a while to pick up the ball until it got above the tree-line. I was a bit slow in starting so when I got nearer to the ball I felt I had to dive to make up for the slow start.

"When I was in the air the ball was coming down in the general vicinity of where my hands were, and then I felt it touch my left hand and then go in the other. When I was sliding on the ground it was still in there so it was a pretty good feeling. Steve Waugh classed it as a miracle, I would probably have to agree with him."

Hussain, meanwhile, was left to rue another Test of missed opportunities. "I repeat what I said after the last match," he said. "If you don't get your disciplines right here you will get blown away. We just have to look at them, there's no disgrace in being beaten by the best side in the world ... I have no shame in saying we can learn from this Australian side.

"It's not a mental thing," said Hussain. "It's a technical-positive thing and that's where we're being outplayed at the moment - in how you play the game of cricket. It comes down to technique and ability of putting the ball in the right areas, and when it's not put in the right areas you hit it for four, it's as simple as that. But everyone else makes it complicated."

Hussain said that England did "virtually everything right" on the opening day of the Test. "Possibly the only things we did wrong were myself getting out [for 47] which was a key moment, and Michael Vaughan getting out on the last ball of the day ... we could have ended up 300 for 2. I think where we lost the game was to lose 7 for 47 in the first innings on a flat wicket."

Looking ahead to the Perth Test, Hussain said he expected the same approach from the Australians, on what is usually a bouncy WACA wicket. "I anticipate them turning up wanting to beat us 5-0, them being completely cut-throat, they'll show no mercy at all. Unless we improve we'll get beaten."

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