Stewart: Give Warney credit

Stewart bemoaned England's failings this morning.

But he could only paise Hampshire skipper Warne for his inspired bowling performance which choked England's batting.

Stewart said of a defeat that has left England trailing 2-0 in the five Test series with three to play: "It's hugely disappointing and that is being polite. After three days England had played really good cricket.

"We competed and out-performed Australia. But, true champions as Australia are, they showed their class on day five.

"Shane Warne strangled the England batting and the rest is history, we just weren't good enough.

"Shane Warne bowled as we all know he can do. He didn't allow England to play their shots.

"In the past, when I was playing, we were almost frightened to take the attack to Shane Warne.

"What has been so good recently is that they have taken the attack to Warne but in the second innings they didn't do that.

"They didn't take the attacking options that has been England's strength over the last three or four years."

Stewart also has serious concerns over England's ability to take the 20 wickets required to win a Test.

Andrew Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard have caused Australia problems but Steve Harmison has taken one wicket in two Tests while both Giles and Anderson have struggled.

"It's going to be tough now and I am sure bookmakers are already saying the Ashes are going back to Australia," Stewart added.

"This will be England's biggest task ever. We have Collingwood, Pietersen and Ian Bell scoring runs but no-one else.

"And we are not looking like taking 20 wickets. That is my biggest issue.

"Harmison has improved slightly but he has only taken one wicket in the series."

Former England captain Nasser Hussain declared coach Duncan Fletcher's selections "let England down" after Australia took a 2-0 lead with a shock victory at the Adelaide Oval.

England dominated the opening two days and declared their first innings on 551 for six before reducing Australia to 65 for three.

But captain Ricky Ponting was dropped by Ashley Giles when on 35 and led the Australian response with a vital first innings century.

Warne then hammered home Australia's advantage this morning with a brilliant unbroken spell to finish with four for 49 as England crumbled.

England have nine days to turn things around before the third Test in Perth.

But no England side has ever come from 2-0 down to win an Ashes series and Hussain said: "It is going to be the biggest test of Fletcher's reign.

"He will come under the immense pressure in the next week or so.

"His selections have let him down and let England down, in Giles and (Geraint) Jones. There have been no runs and no wickets and Giles dropped a crucial catch.

''The coach has got to get his thinking cap on and work out how to get 20 wickets. It will be a difficult time for Fletcher and a difficult time for England.

"In the end, England were three overs short of saving this game but they were mesmerised this morning.

"If England had been busy, rotating the strike like Michael Hussey did, they would have saved the game.

"How did England win the last Ashes? They were aggressive. For one session they lost their aggression and they lost the match.

"Losing Kevin Pietersen was the big wicket."

Former England head coach David Lloyd added: "England needed to perform today and we didn't turn up.

"They had a bad session this morning and you cannot have bad sessions at that stage of the game because you are blown away, you lose."

Fletcher insisted England can no longer rely on Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen for runs and Andrew Flintoff to spearhead the bowling attack on his own.

Lloyd added: "Fletcher is trying desperately to protect his players but he will be seething about this performance.

"In my opinion what he has just said is that we don't bat well enough and we don't bowl well enough.'' Ian Botham demanded Fletcher make immediate changes for the Perth Test.

"I am asking questions. A lot of people are asking questions. Is Monty Panesar here or has he gone home?

"I am totally confused. I was confused at the start of the series and I am even more confused now.

"I am not taking anything away from Australia, they have been magnificent, but we have two players who have hardly played any cricket in a year - Jimmy Anderson and Ashley Giles, two key bowlers.

"What do England do?

"Flintoff will be very, very disappointed as well the rest of that team. They will sit down and think where did it all go wrong'?

"These will be difficult times for Andrew Flintoff.

"At the back of his mind he'll be thinking how the hell did we score 551 for six declared and find ourselves in this position?'. It is a tough thing to take.

"They have got to believe. They have a week to convince themselves they can do something in Perth and get back into the series."

But Mike Selvey, the former England fast bowler, predicted: "This will destroy them, they won't come back from this."

David Gower added: "England will find it very hard to believe there is a way back.

"Having been 551 for six declared, a man scoring a double century (Collingwood), another man scoring 158 (Pietersen), a man taking seven wickets (Hoggard) - how they ended up on the losing side is anyone's guess."

Former England captain Mike Atherton believes this defeat will have taught Flintoff and his men a sore lesson.

"For large parts of this game England haven't played badly. It's a great lesson. You can play as well as you like but one bad session can lose you a Test match.

"They will look back on the missed opportunities. They will go back to after the declaration. Australia were 74 for three and you drop the number one batsman in the world.

"That was a big moment in the game."

Geoffrey Boycott does not think England have it in them to come back into the series.

"The England squad is a pretty decent set of lads. When I meet them they are good lads - but stop talking a good game and start performing a good game," said the former England opener.

"It is as simple as that. Don't tell us you will come back - just do it.

"But at the moment I don't think they are capable of it."