The Ashes: England still have their flaws, but Australia are in complete disarray

Humiliation is best prepared slowly and surely, and England did not need to rush the rubbing of Australian noses in the dirt. The pitch, deliberately drier than usual at England's behest, may have been hampering strokeplay with its stickiness and increasing unevenness, but the truth is that this was a day for England to inflict the utmost pain, however long it took.

Only at the end was the heat turned up. They do not do frippery in such situations, for which they are often accused of excessive conservatism. But pragmatism can rest easily in Test cricket.

And anyway when a young man like Joe Root is scoring his first Ashes century, his first as a Test opener, then he can take as long as he desires.

As long as he has learnt (and he does learn remarkably quickly) that the straight-batted back-foot force (from which he should have been dismissed on Friday night) is fraught with danger against the new ball, then a quite glorious career awaits at the top of the order.

This may just be that this was the day on which England finally settled themselves away from the baffling freneticism that has characterised too much of the play in this series, and also the day on which the Australians realised that there is simply no way back this summer.

Yes, it was the fault of the visitors' batsmen's abject collapse on Friday, but it was the bowlers who were suffering now. And both departments could be scarred for the series.

For instance, the longer the heavy-boned Ryan Harris was in the field, the shorter, you sensed, his series would be. It could be argued that the edge had gone out of the contest by yesterday morning with England already 264 runs ahead, but they had, after all, lost three swift wickets the previous evening, so I think this presented some of the series' best cricket here. It had a control and class so often lacking before.

By the end Root was simply magisterial. Heresy it might be to say as much, but for all the frills, spills, drama and hype so far in this series, there has also been some distinctly poor-quality cricket played.

And not all of it by Australia. For all the excellence of James Anderson, Ian Bell, Root yesterday and the wickets of Graeme Swann without bowling particularly well, England have also delved quite regularly into the lockers marked mediocrity.

Alastair Cook (head falling over), Jonathan Trott (what an odd shot here) and Kevin Pietersen (rusty and calf-strung) are all struggling with the bat. Jonny Bairstow, for all his run-gathering nous, has a technical worry. Steven Finn bowled very poorly at Trent Bridge.

And Stuart Broad's hot and cold phases have not reached the steaming stage yet, at least with the ball. So the top-rankers South Africa will not have been quaking in their boots (not that England play them soon - not until the winter of 2015-16 in fact), and the improving India, who come here for five Tests next summer, might just be eyeing events with quiet confidence.

But at least England possess mainly proven Test cricketers. They will doubtless improve. Australia? Trent Bridge might just have been their apex. Even still they made a very un-Australian selection in dropping Ed Cowan after just one Test. Cowan reckoned he had "kept his head above water" during the recent 4-0 thrashing in India.

But he had no luck in the series build-up - receiving two shocking decisions at Taunton and Worcester, getting hit on the head at short leg and falling ill at Trent Bridge - and still the selectors pushed him under last week.

Michael Clarke's reign is being defined by a revolving-door selection policy. It is aping England's worst times, which is a change, because since losing the last Ashes Down Under in 2010-11, Australia, acting upon the Argus report, have generally been trying to ape England's best times of late.

But, as the sacking of Mickey Arthur proved, it is just not working. Each country must play to its strengths. England tried to copy Australia for too long. We looked for non-existent leg-spinners and idolised their state cricket. Now we are working around our own system.

Even our biggest Australianism - a national academy - is different in that, at Loughborough, it is set apart from the traditional cricket centres, whereas Australia's, once in Adelaide, is now in Brisbane and linked in with Queensland cricket.

England cricketers are being polished in Loughborough. That is clearly not so in Brisbane, certainly not batsmen anyway.