Australia came into the Trent Bridge Test needing to produce one of their best Ashes performances to save the series. Instead they succumbed to one of the most abysmal starts in Test history, bowled out for just 60 before lunch on the first day.
While pitch and weather conditions were helpful for fast-bowling, it was unfathomable, even given their capitulation last week at Edgbaston, that Australia could be bowled out in just 18.3 overs, the shortest first innings of a match in Test history. The biggest runs contributor for Australia was, humiliatingly, extras: 14. 
In the first 37 balls of the match they lost all six of their specialist batsmen amid an onslaught that saw acting England lead paceman Stuart Broad snare 5-6 within his first overs with the new ball. He finished with 8-15 in front of his home crowd. Only twice in Test history has any bowler taken eight wickets for fewer runs.
After the first ball of Broad's third over, and the fifth of the match, Australia were at a calamitous 5-23. It raised memories of Cape Town in late 2011, when Australia were stricken at 5-18 on the way to being bowled out for 47 by South Africa. They flirted with a lower total here and only managed to avoid it when Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon dug in for a last-wicket stand of 13.
The only specialist batsman to survive the carnage was captain Michael Clarke, but only after he came close to being dismissed from his first two scoring deliveries, almost playing on to his stumps and then almost caught from a top-edged hook.
Clarke was helped by exclusively facing Mark Wood for his first 14 deliveries. When he finally faced Broad, he attempted to assert his authority over him with from his first delivery but produced only a loose attempt at driving that gave an edge that was gratefully accepted by his England counterpart, Alastair Cook.
That he was the only top-six batsman to reach double-figures might be deserving of qualified praise in the circumstances, if not for the way he departed.
Only four times in Australia's Test history have they lost their top six more cheaply than they did in Nottingham. One was in Cape Town, the other three were in the 19th century.
Australia sought to stiffen their batting by including Shaun Marsh at the expense of his all-rounder brother, Mitch. As a repercussion of that the left-hander was slotted in at No.4, allowing Clarke to move to his more-favoured No.5 and Adam Voges to No.6. The shuffle was of no benefit and was instead more akin to moving deckchairs on a stricken vessel.
Twitter-@Jesse_Hogan
SCOREBOARD THE ASHES
ENGLAND v AUSTRALIA
At Trent Bridge lunch, day one
AUSTRALIA
Batsman Runs Balls
C ROGERS c Cook b Broad 0 3
D WARNER c Buttler b Wood 0 2
S SMITH c Root b Broad 6 3
S MARSH c Bell b Broad 0 4
M CLARKE c Cook b Broad 10 15
A VOGES c Stokes b Broad 1 4
P NEVILL b Finn 2 15
M JOHNSON c Root b Broad 13 25
M STARC c Root b Broad 1 8
J HAZLEWOOD not out 4 15
N LYON c Stokes b Broad 9 20
Sundries (11lb 3nb) 14
Total 60
Fall: 4 (Rogers), 10 (Smith), 10 (Warner), 15 (S Marsh), 21 (Voges), 29 (Clarke), 33 (Nevill), 46 (Starc), 47 (Johnson), 60 (Lyon)
Bowling:S Broad 9.3-5-15-8, M Wood 3-0-13-1 (2nb), S Finn 6-0-21-1 (1nb)
Batting time: 93 mins Overs: 18.3
ENGLAND
Batsman Runs Balls
A LYTH not out 8 (12)
A COOK not out 4 (7)
Sundries (1lb ) 1
No wicket for 13
Bowling: M Starc 2-0-8-0, J Hazlewood 1-0-5-0.
Batting time: 12minsOvers: 3
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), S Ravi (IND).
Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI).
Third Umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA).