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ADELAIDE, Australia, Sunday

Glenn McGrath took the catch of his life and captured four wickets to spearhead Australia to an innings and 51-run victory over England in the second Ashes cricket Test at the Adelaide Oval here on Sunday.

The Australians, comprehensive 384-run winners of the first Brisbane Test, are now one match away from claiming the Ashes for an eighth consecutive series and that's likely to come in the third Perth Test, starting on November 29. On the evidence from the opening two matches, both completed inside four days, there is a considerable gap between the two traditional Ashes foes.

The day was memorable for McGrath's stunning diving catch to dismiss first innings centurion Michael Vaughan prior to lunch.

McGrath sprinted around the boundary rope at deep square leg to swoop full length and take a catch inches off the ground to end a stubborn rearguard partnership with Alec Stewart.

Vaughan swept legspinner Shane Warne high but McGrath made his ground and lunged with his arms outstretched to pluck the catch with his right hand in mid-air.

McGrath got to his feet and ran with his arms raised in jubilation to be swamped by his teammates in acclaim of one of the great catches of recent times.

The fast bowler received a standing ovation from the crowd when he returned to his fielding position in front of the members' stand.

It was a remarkable catch and incredibly bad luck for Vaughan, who had defied the Australians with a knock of 177 in the first innings to prematurely raise England's hopes of being competitive against the world champions. Australia's unrelenting pressure broke down the English batting on a day interrupted by rain.

Rain prevented a start to the second session until 20 minutes after lunch and there was another rain stoppage 25 minutes into the middle session. When play resumed Craig White played an indisciplined shot under the circumstances, swotting at a high McGrath delivery to be caught comfortably by substitute Brett Lee for five.

Stewart, who had played a fighting innings from the start of the day, fell next ball, the first of Warne's 21st over.

He played forward with his pad and was given out by South African umpire Rudi Koertzen for 57. England had slumped to 130 for seven. Stewart, who endured a pair of ducks in the first Test, picked up his 41st half-century in his 123rd Test in 81 minutes.

He batted for 143 minutes and faced 101 balls. Stewart became only the fourth Englishman along with Graham Gooch, David Gower and Geoff Boycott to reach 8,000 Test runs.

Matthew Hoggard was yorked off-stump by McGrath for one and Steve Harmison played a woeful attempted sweep to be lbw to Warne for a duck.

With England one wicket away from defeat as Andy Caddick strode to the crease, batting at No.11 because of back problems, rain stopped play. When play resumed Richard Dawson cracked McGrath for four fours before he edged to Adam Gilchrist for 19 to give McGrath his fourth wicket of the innings and Australia victory. McGrath finished with 4-41 off 17.2 overs.

England were all out for 159 in 257 minutes off 59.2 overs. England's day began shakily when Robert Key, who came into the Test for the injured John Crawley, completed a wretched match when he was out for one, only staying for six balls when his team needed him to occupy the crease with Vaughan.

Key, who scored one in the first innings, rashly played a pull shot straight to Darren Lehmann at mid-wicket to give Andy Bichel the figures then of 2-1.

Bichel rocked England's resistance when he bowled skipper Nasser Hussain with the second ball of Saturday's last over to have England on the road to defeat at 36 for three.

ENGLAND - 1ST INNINGS 342
 
AUSTRALIA - 1ST INNINGS (552-9) 

ENGLAND - 2ND INNINGS 

M. Trescothick lbw b Gillespie			 0
M. Vaughan c McGrath b Warne			41
M. Butcher lbw b McGrath  			 4
N. Hussain b Bichel 				10
R. Key c Lehmann b Bichel			 1
A. Stewart lbw b Warne  			57
C. White c sub (Lee) b McGrath 			 5
R. Dawson c Gilchrist b McGrath			19
M. Hoggard b McGrath 				 1
S. Harmison lbw b Warne				 0
A. Caddick not out 				 6

Extras (B-3 LB-4 NB-8)				15
TOTAL (all out, 59.2 overs)		       159
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-5, 2-17, 3-36, 4-40, 
5-114, 6-130, 7-130, 8-132, 9-134.
BOWLING: McGrath 17.2-6-41-4 (NB-4), Gillespie 12-1-44-1, 
Warne 25-7-36-3 (NB-4), Bichel 5-0-31-2.

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