Defeat hurt England bad

There are defeats and there are defeats. However, the one the England cricket team suffered at Adelaide was a truly soul-destroying one.

It will be very difficult for them to get up and fight after such a blow, and in many ways they will have to only look within their team to see what went wrong.

I was surprised when I saw the playing eleven that was chosen for the first Test. After all, it was guys like Monty Panesar and Chris Read who had scripted the fine wins against Pakistan during the English summer.

Good cricket

Their omission must have been staggering for many in the squad and such moves can never make for a very happy dressing room.

The England team did have their moments in the Adelaide Test, and after the first two days, there seemed to be only two results possible - a draw if we played well, and a loss if we keeled over. However, I did remember telling the guys that if we played good cricket for three days there was a possibility of a winning situation.

Steady pace

In many ways this Test reminded me of the one we lost against India in 2003-04, at the Adelaide Oval. We had scored 550-plus in the first innings, but the Indians bounced back on the strength of superb knocks by Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. I had scored a double century in that game and so I know how Paul Collingwood must feel after the loss.

The difference between the two games was that we had scored our runs at a tremendous pace, and that had given India some more time.

In last week's Test, England scored at a slow, steady pace, and most people thought there would not be enough time for us to claw our way back.