England struck the first blow of the Ashes summer last night when they overwhelmed Australia by 100 runs in the Twenty20 international at Hampshire's Rose Bowl.

An incredible sequence which saw Australia lose seven wickets in 20 balls to Darren Gough and Jon Lewis settled the contest after England had totalled 179 for eight, the Aussies all out for 79.

It will act as a massive confidence boost to Michael Vaughan's side for the more demanding tasks ahead in the one-day NatWest Series and then the five Test matches.

The tourists reached 23 for nought serenely enough in pursuit of a 180 victory target but then collapsed in dramatic fashion, much to the delight of a capacity 15,000 crowd.

Gough started the procession by having Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden caught by Kevin Pietersen at mid-on and mid-wicket respectively.

Then Lewis, in his first appearance for England, removed Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds in his second over. Clarke was caught behind and Symonds gave Pietersen his third catch - at mid-wicket.

The procession back to the pavilion continued with Mike Hussey perishing at wide slip off Gough and then skipper Ricky Ponting lofting Lewis to extra cover. It became 31 for seven when Damien Martyn edged Lewis to wide slip and at that juncture seven wickets had tumbled for eight runs to leave England in complete command.

Lewis bowled his four overs straight through and finished with four for 24 and Gough returned three for 16 from his three overs.

Brett Lee (15) and Jason Gillespie (24) more than doubled the score in a stand of 36 for the eighth wicket before being removed in quick succession by Paul Collingwood.

Steve Harmison ended the contest by bowling Glenn McGrath to leave Australia routed for 79 in the 15th over.

England had been indebted to a rapid 46 from Collingwood in being able to set the tourists a challenging total.

The Durham batsman entered the action at 102 for four in the 12th over and he hammered five fours and two sixes in his 26-ball knock before perishing to the last ball of the innings from McGrath.

He shared in a sixth-wicket partnership of 49 in six overs with Andrew Strauss to help England past the previous highest Twenty20 score on the ground of 177 for three for Hampshire against Kent in 2004.