Pietersen clipped Brett Lee's third delivery with the new ball straight to Damien Martyn at mid-wicket to be out for 92 and with him went England's last glimmer of hope of earning an improbable draw by batting out the last day.

Afterwards captain Andrew Flintoff conceded his team had been out-gunned from the start by Australia: "We started the match slowly and they put us under pressure and we didn't have time to get into the game, although the batsmen have salvaged something from the game with their performance in this second innings."

With the second Test starting in Adelaide on Friday, Flintoff insisted England could - as they did in 2005 - bounce back from defeat in the first match: "There are characters in that dressing room, some really tough lads, and we can't mope around, as disappointed as we are.

"There are four Tests to go, some of us have been in this position - 1-0 down in an Ashes series - before and we have to take the positives out of this game into Adelaide.

"It is not a bad thing the Test is coming round straight away, being thrown in is probably the best thing that could happen."

Once Pietersen departed, England's lower order decided to go down with something of a flourish and Geraint Jones played some handsome shots in a breezy 33 before he was bowled off an inside edged by Glenn McGrath.

Ashley Giles (23) and Steve Harmison (13) landed some blows too as Stuart Clark, the New South Wales paceman making his home Test debut, worked his way through the tail taking the last three wickets in five overs to finish with four for 72.

England were bowled out for 370, the only consolation being that their total was a record fourth innings score at the Gabba.