Ben Stokes struck a stunning century for England on Sunday but it was not enough to prevent Australia from sealing a 43-run win on a day of high drama at Lord's.
The England captain produced what has now become a trademark innings of skill and raw power that looked set to become one of the greatest ever seen in Test cricket.
Stokes had smashed 155 off 214 balls, including nine four and nine sixes that had taken England to within 70 runs of their victory target of 371, only to miscue Josh Hazlewood high into the air and down into the hands of wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
That left only England's tail-enders and the home side were eventually bowled out for 327 to give Australia victory and a 2-0 series lead that will be tough to turnaround.
The day's controversial moment came when Jonny Bairstow was given out after hugely contentious stumping of Jonny Bairstow, which left England needing 178 runs with just four wickets in hand.
Believing the ball to be dead, Bairstow wandered out of his ground as Carey under-armed the ball at the stumps. Australia celebrated and Bairstow was given out by TV umpire Marais Erasmus – much to the fury of the usually sedate Lord's crowd.
Things even turned nasty in the Long Room, where Marylebone Cricket Club members exchanged heated words with the Australians as they walked off at lunch.
An apology followed from the MCC, but Cricket Australia requested an investigation into the incident.
“Jonny was in his crease, then out of his crease to come down and have the chat,” Stokes told Test Match Special. “I am not disputing the fact it is out because it is out.
“Would I want to win a game in that manner? The answer for me is no.”
Australia captain Pat Cummins, unsurprisingly, had a different view. “I think it's a rare dismissal,” he said. “There was nothing untoward or sneaky. Jonny was leaving his crease every ball. He did it four or five balls.
“You're meant to stay in your crease in cricket. Bairstow has tried it with a lot of our guys. I thought it was totally fair play.”
While there was clear disagreement over that decision, there was no doubt about the brilliance of Stokes' innings that followed that controversial call.
He was on 62 not out at the time, playing with notable maturity, but suddenly began a frenzied display of furious hitting with 46 runs off his next 21 deliveries up the lunch break. Cameron Green was his preferred target, hammered for three fours in his next over and three sixes in the following one.
Stokes' main support came from Stuart Broad who contributed 11 to their century seventh-wicket partnership. The 37-year-old was overheard on the stump microphone telling Carey “you'll always be remembered for that” and “literally the worst thing I've ever seen in cricket”.
The tall pace bowler also goaded Carey by holding his bat in his crease and staring pointedly at the stumps to remind the wicketkeeper about his stumping of Bairstow after the batsman walked up the wicket at the end of the over.
With Australia posting all their fielders on the boundary, he turned down countless singles and continued to clear the ropes at regular intervals before attempting one big hit too many.
Australia batter Steve Smith admitted his team's thoughts had turned to Leeds in 2019 when Stokes conjured up an astonishing victory with an innings of 135 not out and a last-wicket partnership of 76 with Jack Leach.
“It was a bit of déjà vu for sure,” said Smith, who won the player of the match award for his first innings 110.
“He's an unbelievable player, some of the things he can pull off. The way he went about it, he was pretty much just trying to hit one way. He's a freak.”
“I dropped him so I was glad we got him in the end. I didn't pick it up initially, it's hard square of the wicket when he's going hard.”
“Having a world-class player like Ben on the top of his game, you start thinking 'that boundary looks short',” added Cummins on his England counterpart.
The series now heads to Headingly on Thursday with England knowing only victory can keep alive their slim hopes of winning back the Ashes.
