The England captain asked opposite number Shane Warne to come on to the pitch after a stream of objects, including golf balls, a snooker ball and an empty beer bottle, rained down from the old Bay 13 section of the 82,299-strong crowd during Australia's innings; they landed dangerously close to Mark Ealham at third man.

Warne donned a helmet as he walked towards an area of the MCG that he inhabited as a young spectator and an atmosphere that threatened to boil over in the near-40C heat was quickly cooled after a five minute delay.

``I said to Alec, I don't know why you're calling on me - after all that's happened in recent weeks they might throw things at me too,'' Warne said. ``I won't condone any throwing of objects but I thought the crowd were magnificent all night.''

Stewart said England had refused to play on once Ealham showed him the bottle and called for Warne because ``he is a god in these parts''. He added: ``The Barmy Army have been great over here and have supported us without causing trouble.

``It was brilliant playing in front of such a huge crowd, but a few people threatened to ruin it and I had to think of the safety of the players. When the beer bottle came on it had gone too far but we won't be taking the matter any further. Shane kept the golf balls but we got hold of the beer bottle so we can claim the refund.''

Ealham confirmed a golf ball thrown from the crowd had flicked a knee but otherwise he had not been hit.

The incident overshadowed an awesome performance from Australia and one Stewart put down as ``a bad day at the office for England''.

He added: ``That's our first one-day defeat by Australia in five matches so we won't panic, but we should have scored around 250. We needed early wickets and didn't get them.''