Michael Vaughan's long-awaited return from injury was tarnished by another mauling at the hands of Australia.

Vaughan, 32, led England for the first time in 13 months at the SCG but Australian dominance from the Ashes whitewashing showed no sign of abating.

Ricky Ponting's men smashed a new Twenty20 record score of 221 for five in the 77-run victory, including 14 sixes.

England's top order were blown away as Vaughan hit 27 as others fell around him.

''Personally it was a decent moment for me to go out and play but obviously to lose isn't a great feeling,'' said Vaughan, returning after two knee operations.

''It is always a tough occasion when you play Australia and they made it very difficult for us tonight.

''I am pleased with my form and the body reacted in a positive fashion but obviously we are disappointed because we wanted to win".

Australia avenged the 100-run mauling at the Rose Bowl in 2005 which served as the entree to Ashes success.

As has been the theme this winter, Ricky Ponting's men powered through their opponents, leading Vaughan to marvel at their muscular striking.

Vaughan continued: ''You have got guys hitting not just 10 yards over the boundary but clearing the ropes by 40 yards.

''That is powerful hitting, I don't know if they have got different bats to what we are using.

''Yes we could have thought a little bit better in the field, changed our pace, bowled the odd bouncer but in all three disciplines they were a bit better than us on the night".

Adam Gilchrist led the assault with five sixes in his 48 while half-a-dozen batsmen cleared the rope.

Matthew Hayden began the fireworks as James Anderson bore the brunt, finishing with the unwanted figures of 4-0-64-1, the most expensive analysis in 13 Twenty20 internationals.

''We had them under pressure right from the start today,'' said Ponting. ''Matty tried to ram home what he could as early as he could in the game.

''Some of our hitting was incredibly clean, hitting some of those sixes to the long side of the ground was skilful cricket".

England were shoddy in the field, Jon Lewis dropping a sitter when Ponting had made only 16 of his eventual 47. Kevin Pietersen dropped another regulation catch in the last over.

Vaughan and Co have just two days to bridge the gulf in class before the Commonwealth Bank Series starts in Melbourne.

''We made a lot of beating Australia at Hampshire a couple of years ago and we have to accept we went out tonight and just didn't play well enough,'' said Vaughan.

''Australia in all areas of the game were a little bit better and that is something we are going to have to learn from.

''Sometimes you have to accept you are playing a very powerful team and we have to make sure over the next couple of days we think up a strategy to try to build into the World Cup.

''We realise playing the number one one-day team in the world in their own backyard is going to be pretty difficult.

''But there is no reason why we can't try to compete and beat them in a few of these games.

''When tough times come about that is when you need tough people and that is what we need from all the players. ''We need to get people into a good mental state for Friday's game.''