England's latest Test at Brisbane seemed to take an unexpected twist on Friday morning, but so far it is following a familiar Gabba theme. Two of them, in fact. For each of England's previous visits to Australia, in 1994-95 and 1998-99, a sign saying "abandon hope all ye who enter here", might well have been pinned on the visitors' dressing-room door. A tropical downpour came to their aid on the most recent occasion, but there was no such luck four years earlier. Both times the stage was set for a depressingly one-sided series, and so far the 2002-03 vintage is proving to be an ominous amalgam of the two.

In 1994-95, as in 2002-03, the first-day plaudits were stolen by an opener. For Matthew Hayden, read Michael Slater, who crashed a Phil DeFreitas long-hop for four first ball, and careered to a breakneck 176. He was aided and abetted by Mark Waugh's 140, and at 308 for 2, the sky was the mere follow-on target for Australia's ambitions.

But then, on the second day, something strange happened. DeFreitas did a Caddick and upped his tempo, Mark Waugh tried to reverse-slap Phil Tufnell, and the innings crumbled to 426 all out. Only one other player, Mark Taylor, passed 50. There however, the analogy ends, as England slumped to a miserable 167 (though that figure, spookily, equates to their current first-innings deficit). Shane Warne eventually wrapped things up with 8 for 71 in the second innings.

Four years later, and England's good sessions came early in the match. Australia were wobbling at 178 for 5 when Ian Healy joined Steve Waugh – and then the trouble began. Alan Mullally provided the comic touch by putting his hands in front of the stumps to prevent Waugh being run out by a direct hit, Angus Fraser dropped a Hoggard-esque swirler at third man off Healy, and both men scored centuries in a total of 485 …

It didn't look too worrying when Hussain and Mark Butcher carried England to 145 for 1 in reply … but then no-one was too worried about England's overnight score of 158 for 1 either. But on both occasions, England lost two quick wickets (168 for 3 in 1998-99, 171 for 3 in 2002-03) and then, as the seamers blew away the tail, one much maligned middle-order batsman stood firm. For Mark Ramprakash, read John Crawley, both of whom were left stranded on … 69 not out.

On that occasion, England finished six wickets down in their second innings and 168 runs adrift when the heavens opened on the fifth day. After yesterday's effort, England would gladly settle for that sort of outcome. The fact that Queensland is in the middle of a drought, however, suggests that England have a bit of salvaging to do yet.

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