There is humiliation – and then there’s the humiliation of being completely decimated by your oldest and fiercest enemy.
Australia’s cricketers suffered the ignominy of being bowled out for 60 runs in just over 90 minutes on the opening morning of the fourth Ashes Test – one of cricket’s great rivalries – against England at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge.
Australia’s batsmen were all in 18.3 overs – the quickest any team has ever been dismissed in the first innings of a Test match.
While Australia’s batsmen were left red-faced, England made light work of the Trent Bridge pitch with Joe Root providing yet another reminder of why he is considered one of the most exciting prospects in world cricket.
He cracked 124 runs off 158 deliveries to help England finish the day on 274-4 with a lead of 214.
Earlier in the day Stuart Broad claimed an astonishing eight wickets for 15 runs in a pulsating opening session as Australia crawled to its seventh lowest total in Test match history.
“It’s pretty unbelievable,” Broad, whose eight-wicket haul is the third cheapest in history, told Sky Sports.
“It’s not sunk in. We knew Trent Bridge would offer us something we had to bowl well and take our catches.”
It is the first time since 1896 that Australia has been bowled out before lunch on the opening day of a Test.
Australia’s miserable performance produced a barrage of jokes on Twiter poking fun at the visitors.
Leading 2-1 in the five-match series after an eight-wicket win last time out at Edgbaston, England blew its rival apart with a scintillating display of fast bowling.
This after Australia had arrived on English shores as firm favorite after thrashing England 5-0 in the 2014 series Down Under.
But after winning the second Test at Lord’s to level the series at 1-1, Australia has fallen apart in embarrassing fashion.
Last week in Birmingham Australia was swept aside but this innings was one of the lowest moments for the country’s Test side in recent memory.
Not since 1936 had Australia managed a worse score than 60 in an Ashes Test match but on a pitch which left its batsmen bamboozled, at times the Aussies looked more like a village team than a side filled with international stars.
The last time Australia suffered such a disastrous innings was in 2011 where it was bowled out for a paltry 47 by South Africa in Cape Town.
After winning the toss, Alastair Cook elected to bowl first and his side didn’t disappoint, ripping into the Australians straight away.
Broad, the pick of the England bowlers, dismissed Chris Rogers and Steven Smith in the first over before David Warner was caught behind off a delivery from Mark Wood.
Shaun Marsh was dismissed for nought by Broad before the same bowler took Adam Voges’ wicket courtesy of a spectacular one-handed diving catch by Ben Stokes.
Michael Clarke, the under-fire Australian captain, was the sixth man to be out, edging the ball to Alastair Cook at slip as Broad continued to run riot.
At 29-6, England were in total control and Peter Nevill was soon on his way back to the pavilion after losing his off stump to Steven Finn.
Mitchell Starc managed just one before he was sent packing by Broad and he was soon followed by Mitchell Johnson, who top scored with 13.
Nathan Lyon was the final man to go, caught by Stokes off Broad to leave Australia all-out for 60.
Broad’s 8-15 takes him to 307 Test wickets and ranks him fifth in the country’s all-time list of leading wicket takers.
Broad’s figures are also the best figures in a Test match for England since 1994 when Devon Malcom claimed 9-57 against South Africa.
While Australia imploded on the Trent Bridge pitch, England overcame the loss of four wickets to finish the day with a commanding lead.
Jonny Bairstow’s 74 and Root’s heroic hundred allowed the two men to create a partnership worth 173 runs after the loss of early wickets.
Adam Lyth, who has struggled for form throughout the series – the first of Starc’s three victims – fell for 14 as England lost its opening wicket for 32.
Ian Bell made just one before being adjudged LBW to Starc, while Cook suffered a similar fate for 43.
From there on it was all about Root, who played beautifully for his eighth Test match hundred .
It’s the first time a player has scored a century on the first day of an Ashes Test batting in the second innings of a match.
At just 24, Root’s econd century of the series put England in pole position.
Australia did manage to grab another wicket late in the day – Bairstow holing out to Rogers off the bowling of Josh Hazlewood for 74 – before Mark Wood, the night-watchman, entered the action to provide protection for Root and close out the day for England with minimal fuss.
The home side will return Friday for the second day with the Ashes very much within its grasp – for the proud sporting nation of Australia, the humiliation continues.