By Scott Heinrich BBC Sport in Adelaide

This was Test cricket at its best. Ashes cricket at its best. Sport at its best. The glorious unpredictability of the five-day game should never cease to amaze.

Andrew Flintoff now faces a huge task to lift England's spirits

A Test match that looked all over a draw from day one to day four sprang to life on the fifth day in sun-drenched Adelaide as England suffered a devastating defeat.

They will head for Perth with only sour memories and an unwanted record.

Never before in the history of Test cricket has a team declared in the first innings with so many runs on the board and gone on to lose.

At the start of the final day, vacant seats outnumbered taken ones as locals (many of them members) thought better of another day of attritional cricket.

But as news spread throughout the city that Australia were coming hard, all that changed.

606: DEBATE With the second Test lost in such a humiliating way, where does the English team, psychologically, go from here? SF 606: Have your say

England fans will not be in the mood to marvel at Test cricket's capacity to produce something from nothing. They will look at England's lamentable collapse for 129 and place head in hands.

This was a return to the bad old days when England lacked conviction and suffered from nerves on the big stage.

England based their watershed Ashes triumph last year on aggressive, pro-active cricket. Adopting the Australian model, they beat them at their own game.

In Adelaide, however, they were conservative from the outset, leaving attacking spinner Monty Panesar on the outside, taking two days to score 550 runs and then batting timidly on the final morning.

Australia, conversely, were ruthless and decisive when it mattered most. They got down to business and displayed the qualities that stamp them as champions.

England's biggest error was to go into defence mode against Warne

A piece of fortune - good for Australia, bad for England - started it all as Andrew Strauss was given a howler of a decision.

And as Australia moved in for the kill with aggressive field placings and buoyant body language, England lost their nerve.

Ian Bell's run-out was sad and entirely avoidable. The shots that led to the dismissals of Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones were irresponsible. Only Paul Collingwood had the temperament and skill to stand up to the barrage.

To their credit, England made Australia, who have a not-so-proud history of failing to chase down meagre totals, work hard for victory in the final session.

Elevating Mike Hussey to number four was an inspired move by the home side and the world's number one limited-overs batsman excelled in the one-day nature of the run-chase.

So England are 2-0 down after two Tests, their Ashes defence all but in tatters, and the psychological bruising a defeat like this will leave will not go away overnight.

During England's collapse, Geoffrey Boycott said: "Even if England draw this, all the plusses have gone away. They're under pressure, the Aussies know they can bowl us out, they're cocky going into the Perth Test."

He was right. Australia will head to the third Test so cocky they'll have beaks for noses.