Waugh's one-legged assault withers England

Australia 641-4 dec England 80-1

Sharing a womb for nine months has not given Steve and Mark Waugh much in common over the years except a capacity to torment England. Yesterday, they even took this to new levels, each making a century of contrasting styles – Steve's virtually on one leg – as Australia declared their first innings on a mammoth 641 for 4.

This ground has seen some big scores before, the most recent being the 692 for 8 the West Indies made here in 1995. That match ended as a draw but with England closing the day on 80 for 1, after Marcus Trescothick raced to fifty off 49 balls, the follow-on target of 442 (not that Waugh is likely to enforce it), is still some way off.

There appear to be no half measures where Australia's captain is concerned. In just under three weeks, he has gone from being carried off on a stretcher at Trent Bridge with a torn calf to making an unbeaten 157 here. Just his presence appears to make opponents go to pieces and England's bowlers, never at their best during this series, were carted around at will on the shirtfront prepared here by Paul Brind.

England announce their winter tour parties next Tuesday, but if the selectors had already inked in most of the names, the bowling figures here may cause one or two drastic rethinks to be made. Phil Tufnell, whose 39 overs cost him 174 runs, has been given a mauling, something India's batsmen, even better at playing spin than Australia's, are also likely to do.

None of the others covered themselves in glory either, and the 83 boundaries struck came with such regularity that spectators became immune to them. The best, or at least the most sumptuous, came from Mark Waugh. Dropped by Mark Butcher at second slip the ball after making his fifty, Mark Waugh went on to enrapture the capacity crowd.

A lofted clip for four off Darren Gough was immediately followed by a back-foot drive of such crisp, clean beauty, that had Keats been on hand to witness it, he would surely have committed it to poetry.

As is his wont, the younger Waugh (he was born 20 minutes after Steve) got bored and resorted to slogging Gough for six. An attempt to repeat the shot ended with his middle stump being uprooted for 120. It was Gough's only success and along with Usman Afzaal's fortunate snaring of Adam Gilchrist, caught off a wide full toss at extra cover, England did not take enough wickets to make Justin Langer bat again.

The differences in character between the Waugh twins are well documented, the main one being Steve's clenched-jaw tenacity versus Mark's laid-back nonchalance. Yesterday the marked physical difference made Steve's hundred the greater but not the more eye-catching; but then there is nothing new there.

In a recent piece comparing the brothers, one writer wrote: "Mark Waugh scores runs for the pleasure of it, Steve Waugh for the pain it causes." Of course the author meant pain to the opposition, not the intense one the Aussie captain endured yesterday from an undercooked calf muscle.

A content over style batsman – not for him the perfect 10 for artistic impression – the senior Waugh, even when fully fit, plays innings full of sudden hops and ungainly stabs. The reason for this is that he leaves the moment of putting bat to ball as late as possible in order to minimise the occasions the good ones might get him out.

By making himself available and scoring a century, his 27th in Tests and his sixth against England, Steve Waugh was making a point. All summer he has been incredulous at the number of England players absenting themselves from Test matches with what he considers to be minor injuries. "It's Test match mate," he said recently, "I'll do anything to play in it."

To most, the Australian captain is not an indulgent man, but by playing with a barely healed injury, he was indulging himself. While it appears churlish to describe a man who scores 157 not out as selfish, his impression of Hopalong Cassidy cost the team runs. The counter argument, is would a replacement like Simon Katich have done the same? Don't bother to send your answers on a postcard.

In the period it took him to go from 50 to his century, he only ran two twos for himself but none for his partners. There were no quick singles either, save the one he took to reach his hundred and even that required a full length dive.

Covered in dust, he raised his bat before he was able to do the same with his body, eventually pointing it towards his team-mates and Errol Alcott, the physio whose efforts got him to the place where he operates best – the middle.

Once he had declared at 4.37pm, he did not repair to the dressing-room to ice his screaming calf and see the rest of the day out on the sofa. He went back out to field at gully and under the helmet at silly point, a place where he would have got a close-up of Trescothick's marvellous off-side strokes.

He would also have got a good view of Michael Atherton's dismissal, bowled off stump by a big-ripping leg break from Shane Warne. A good player of spin, many believe it was Atherton's penultimate Test innings.

For those intent on reading the body language signs are there, although the most potent probably came in the last match at Headingley. There Atherton "walked" after Glenn McGrath got one to flick his glove in the second innings. Once you walk against the Aussies, retirement is really the only option.