As England were being bowled out for 85 by Tim Murtagh at Lord’s, Australia reduced themselves to 430 for 33 at Southampton.

Has the tone been set for this summer’s Ashes series, in which both sides have brittle batting and brilliant bowlers? Alastair Cook certainly thinks so.

In his role as a summariser for Test Match Special, the former England captain said: “There will be times when both sides are bowled out cheaply. There are vulnerabilities in both batting line-ups. The skill of the bowlers is ahead of the skill of the batters in this series.”

Into the fourth innings of Australia’s intra-squad trial, the highest score is 170, and there has been just one half-century, from David Warner. Their bowlers have beaten up their batsmen. Whichever combination of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson takes the field at Edgbaston next Thursday will be fearsome.

As for England, while Murtagh bowled with mesmeric accuracy and the epic, draining World Cup win came just 10 days before, this clearly cannot be laughed off as an isolated incident. The personnel changes but the outcome does not: England are still prone to Test batting meltdowns.

So, to Dhaka 2016 and Auckland and Trent Bridge 2018 we must add Lord’s 2019 as occasions when England have lost all 10 wickets in a session. Before Dhaka, they had not done that since 1938. Now they have done it three times in four years.

There are many other gruesome stats, such as this being their shortest Test innings at home (23.4 overs). Their score of 85 was not even their lowest this year, after they were bowled out for 77 in Barbados in January. This time it happened against Ireland, playing their third Test.

Batting coach Graham Thorpe said England “can’t run away from today’s performance, can’t make excuses”. He urged England not to panic.

Lethargy and a lack of red-ball preparation clearly played a part. Look at the World Cup winners: Jason Roy and Chris Woakes had not played a red-ball game this year, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali not since St Lucia in February.

Woakes and Bairstow, who played every World Cup game, look in particular need of rest, but they are playing because they feel they have to: Woakes to stake an Ashes claim in a congested field of quicks, Bairstow because he does not want to give Ben Foakes the gloves.

They had to have some Ashes prep, but a Test against fired-up, quality opposition so soon after the World Cup was surely not the answer. Scheduling issues are deeper than any selection errors, mind.

England did not just look tired, but technically unsound. In the collapse, England, as they tend to, tried to hit their way out of trouble rather than soaking up pressure. According to CricViz, they attacked 24 per cent of deliveries, far too many against such accurate bowling.

Jason Roy, part of a top three that had not played a home Test between them, was playing across his front pad, Bairstow went too hard. They are such good one-day players because they can hit themselves through tough patches, but that is impossible in Tests.

Across a series, Australia will probe and pick away at them, just as they will at Rory Burns. He is the latest in a series of players with homespun techniques that have brought county runs by the bucketload. England are hoping he is finally the one good enough to survive. He should be given time, because now is not the time for changes and the cupboard is hardly brimming with alternatives.

While England’s batting looks as problematic as ever, their bowling stocks have deepened considerably since the 2017/18 Ashes. Then, they took a series of samey right-armers to Australia and were shown up by the hosts’ battery of brilliant quicks.

Since then, Mark Wood’s pace has re-emerged, although they will be without him until late in the Ashes. Sam Curran has proved his happy knack of taking timely and important wickets in home Tests.

Yesterday, Olly Stone showed what potential he has, taking three for 29 and hitting William Porterfield flush on the helmet. He consistently clocked speeds in the high eighties, so the lovely outswinger that took the key wicket of Andy Balbirnie made a delicious clunk as it took out the stumps.

And that is before we get to Jofra Archer, who is back from his sojourn in Barbados and is not officially out of the Ashes opener. Root was desperate to get him in before this match and will be even more so now. Do not be shocked if he is lining up in Birmingham a week today.

There are no concerns that Jimmy Anderson will not be there, either. In fact, England’s attack missing this game — Anderson, Archer, Wood, Ben Stokes — might be their best right now. Stuart Broad would have something to say about that and he bowled better in tandem with Stone than he had with the new ball.

Whatever England’s bowling selection, they will have to be at their best, because the batsmen are in for a working over.