England looked utterly clueless at Edgbaston and the joy from World Cup fever has become an Ashes virus

REMEMBER that glorious day at Lord’s when England ruled the world and we all clapped and cheered and danced?

Now compare to the abject scenes at Edgbaston yesterday when England produced something that was utterly clueless.

In little more than three weeks, World Cup final fever has become an Ashes virus.

England reduced Australia to 122-8 midway through the first afternoon of the First Test yet somehow contrived to lose by the massive margin of 251 runs.

That is a catastrophic defeat in anyone’s book.

The shattering blow to England’s strategy and self-esteem will be difficult to cure in the nine days before the Second Test at Lord’s.

There are questions and problems wherever you look.

Is Jason Roy a Test opener?

Is Joe Denly an international-class batsman?

Why does Jos Buttler have just one century in 32 Tests?

How can the collapse in form of Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali be addressed?

How can England compensate for the loss of the injured Jimmy Anderson?

How can captain Joe Root exude the same sense of authority that Eoin Morgan commands in one-day cricket?

Why did the 2018 Dukes ball — specially requested by England in this series to promote swing and seam — hardly deviate from the straight?

And, perhaps most pertinently of all, how the heck are England going to dismiss Steve Smith?

Don’t forget, this calamity happened at Edgbaston, which has been England’s fortress and where they had won their previous 11 matches across all formats.

The Aussies had lost their previous 15 games on the ground.

Australia bowled spectacularly well — especially spinner Nathan Lyon and speedster Pat Cummins — but England’s surrender was timid in the extreme.

They possessed neither the technical nous nor patience to come close to batting out the final day and securing a draw.

The turning ball was too much for them and so was the variable bounce extracted by the quick bowlers.

You need skill, heart, determination and restraint in those circumstances and England displayed few, if any, of those qualities.

After surviving for seven overs on Sunday evening, England were bowled out in a further 45.3 overs, which is half-a-day’s worth of cricket.

Root claimed England were “brilliant” for the first three days, which might be stretching things.

And that almost makes it worse — you dominate for more than half the game and still end up getting hammered.

Root refused to be critical . . . he does not regret picking Anderson, England can still regain The Ashes, Roy was chosen to bat aggressively, Moeen comes back stronger when written off.

You get the picture. But, privately, Root must know he has a long list to sort out in the next week.

At the start of play, England must have thought they had a realistic chance of escaping with a draw but those hopes soon went up in a puff of dust.

Rory Burns, batting for the fifth straight day, pushed the opening ball from Cummins to the extra cover boundary but, soon afterwards, gloved a short ball to gully.

Root was twice given out lbw by umpire Joel Wilson — to James Pattinson on four and Peter Siddle on nine — but each was overturned on review.

The first was missing leg, the second was inside-edged on to his pad.

Wilson was so hapless in this match that it was possible to feel almost sorry for him, even though he is a professional umpire on a six-figure salary enjoying business-class travel.

Roy’s charge down the pitch and attempt to hit Lyon towards the Birmingham Bullring strained belief.

He was picked to be positive, not brainless.

Denly was snaffled at short leg and bafflingly asked for a review when everyone knew he nicked the ball.

With triggerman Wilson around, reviews needed to be saved.

Buttler was bowled by one that kept a little low and Bairstow caught off his arm.

Third umpire Chris Gaffaney adjudged the ball touched the wristband of Bairstow’s glove, which counts as hitting the ball.

Next ball, Ben Stokes feathered a catch behind off Lyon. It was becoming a procession.

Moeen’s nightmare match continued when he was caught at slip off Lyon and Stuart Broad departed in near-identical fashion next ball.

The final blow arrived when Chris Woakes deflected a short ball from Cummins into the slips.

Anderson came out to bat at No 11 but struggled to run.

The sight of England’s greatest bowler shuffling around having sent down just four overs in the match because of a calf problem was grimly symbolic of their plight.

A limping, hobbling shambles of a performance.