Fearless factor puts England on top

Equally, you knew how much the Australians will have absolutely hated it because, however alien the wham-bam format, this was simply the least professional and competent display we may witness from this lot.

For one night only, were we permitted to tease: "There are only three things wrong with this Aussie side; they can't bat, they can't bowl and they can't field."

In 35 years of one-dayers, the Aussies have only twice been dismissed for lower than the pitiful 79 they garnered here. The last time was 19 years ago against New Zealand in Adelaide. In the two years of Twenty20 fare in England, it represented the second lowest score yet.

"I think we're better off laughing this one off, mate," Ricky Ponting said. "We're not going to worry too much about it."

Sure enough, his rueful grin didn't exactly make him look suicidal, but when was the last time an Australia captain was forced to concede England outplayed them in all areas?

As for his suggestion that Twenty20's future in the scheme of international cricket was probably as a "light-hearted, fun sort of game", that was shown up to be nonsense the moment Brett Lee started hurling them down at 90-plus mph in the first over. This was serious, all right.

So perhaps the real triumph was that England may have sown a few seeds of uncertainty into a team that normally entertains no doubts.

Aussies of recent vintage, from Allan Border's reign through to Ponting's era, have been used to bullying the opposition. Their victims have rarely stood up to them and planted one back.

Yet as they headed off on the motorway to Taunton for the next stop on tour, maybe Ponting and his crew were left just the slightest bit concerned that this England side, most of whom are not scarred by constant failure against them, did not seem in the slightest cowed by reputations. Lee may have bounced Andrew Flintoff but he got dumped on his backside by a vicious 88mph bouncer in return.

Geraint Jones nearly took Lee's head off with a straight drive, Kevin Pietersen deposited Jason Gillespie over mid-on into the crowd with awesome power and Darren Gough, seemingly inspired by the youthful zest around him, was fast and hostile and glowered beautifully.

At 34, you could almost sense how the marvellous Gough would kill to be 10 years younger, starting his career all over again alongside a vigorous bunch he feels could be real winners. You could see his spirit inspiring newcomer Jon Lewis as they ripped through the card.

Then there was the remarkable Pietersen. The question about how to find a way to fit him into our Test team will become all the more urgent each time he plays an innings that showcases his ability to quite destroy attacks.

His dazzling cameo lasted only 18 balls, but with his catches was still enough for him to win the public's vote as man of the match and to have an Aussie journalist earnestly quizzing him about his hair highlights.

The man can't help it; his star quality has quite captured the imagination, just as the idea of Twenty20 internationals is clearly going to do as well on this evidence.

Vaughan thinks his whole team has star quality, though. "What I like about them is they plan, prepare and play hard and really enjoy being out there in front of 20,000," he said. And what we like about Vaughan is his seeming ability to make them believe increasingly in themselves.

It won't be "eas-eee", but somehow in the space of Twenty20's 20 historic deliveries, it felt just a little easier for all of us to believe the mission might not be impossible after all.