IT'S typical of the England cricket team -- they give us a false dawn...at dusk!

Remember that dramatic series win in Pakistan.

It was the first Test match to finish in the fierce glare of the moon.

England were back and they had shown the sort of guts and professionalism you need to succeed in modern sport.

The corks were popping -- champagne not Dominic -- and Nasser Hussain was a national hero for leading England back to respectability in the cricket world.

It wasn't simply a question of ability.

It was the fight Nasser's men displayed in one of the toughest arenas in world cricket which gave followers hope for the future.

But the familiar failings returned this week in Sri Lanka. The middle order collapses, which England so handily combine with late order collapses, have become such a characteristic of our game that when other nations fail they say they've 'Done an England'.

The bowling looked about as threatening as Ken Barlow.

The catching as convincing as a Neighbours script.

And hapless Hussain's verdict.

"We played great."

The first case of foot in mouth confirmed in Sri Lanka.

It's the sort of spin that could get him a high ranking job in the Labour Party not to mention a great Test match wicket haul.

All right I accept the Sri Lankan effort got a little assistance.

If you are a cricket umpire it helps to be able to tell whether the ball has hit the bat.

Even despite falling foul of the odd dodgy decision no-one could argue that England -- Marcus Trescothick apart -- were ever really at the races.

And, what's more, trying to put a gloss on such an abject defeat is not the sort of ruthless attitude to failure that we need.

It's difficult to imagine it happening but you can't believe the Aussies would describe an innings defeat as great.

Clearly they have something of an edge in terms of ability.

Steve Waugh's men are one of the greatest sides the game has ever known.

But allied to their undoubted talent is a steely desire to win.

And the question is would the Aussies put up with a skipper who has contributed just 244 runs from his last 21 innings?