Jon Lewis' devastating rout of Australia in the NatWest Twenty20 international in Southampton yesterday was largely thanks to one of their outcasts.

Two years ago the 29-year-old rarely got a one-day outing for Gloucestershire due to the presence of Ian Harvey, whose omission from this Australian tour party added to the irony as England ruthlessly tore through their Ashes rivals' top order.

In all, seven wickets went down for eight runs in 20 balls, four of them - Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn - to Lewis during a heady quarter-of-an-hour spell.

It was a stunning debut for Lewis, one of county cricket's honest grafters, who thrived on the greater opportunity and responsibility Harvey's departure from Bristol thrust his way.

''I suppose when Ian Harvey left to go to play for Yorkshire that helped my case,'' said Lewis, following England's crushing 100-run victory. ''He wasn't there anymore and I got a game, got in the groove and started taking some wickets which helped my confidence.

''I knew that one-day games had that slightly higher profile in that you are on television more and it was important for me to do well.

''Previously I didn't used to play much one-day cricket because of the presence of Ian and Mike Smith and the management tried to make sure I was fit and fresh for the County Championship.

''But I am in a better place fitness-wise now, which means I can get through a whole season with confidence, and as a more mature bowler I also handle the pressure better.''

There was little chance for the pressure to build at the Rose Bowl with new-ball partner Darren Gough prising out openers Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden to begin the avalanche of wickets.

''These games do not allow you the time to worry about things, you get out there, get the ball in hand and get on with it,'' Lewis, who could make his one-day international bow against Bangladesh tomorrow, reflected. ''I expected to feel more nervous than I did.

''But you have only got four overs so you are in a win-win situation. If you go for 50 in that time you are struggling but anything within reason is good because you are expected to go for runs.

''That's Twenty20 cricket in a nutshell really; anything can happen. When the ball is new you have got a good chance of getting wickets.''

His quartet of victims succumbed to conventional seam bowling, profiting from a full length while the heavy artillery struck physical blows to partner any psychological ones.

Gough's hat-trick ball powered into Andrew Symonds' shoulder, Brett Lee's helmet was rattled by Andrew Flintoff and Glenn McGrath was pinged on the gloves by Steve Harmison.

Lewis demanded attention last season when, as well as claiming 57 County Championship victims at 25 apiece, he took 35 one-day wickets at an average of two per match, exactly the kind of consistency urged of him by chairman of selectors David Graveney.

''When I spoke to David asking for advice on what I needed to do, I was told I needed to make sure I was picked for my county first.

''I needed to be considered for both forms of the game and to be the best bowler at Gloucestershire to play for England,'' Lewis said.

A winter in Sydney with Randwick Petersham honed his ability to change pace and reverse swing the ball later in limited-overs innings. Harvey's eminence during Gloucestershire's halcyon period was also an influence, albeit indirectly.

''The more skills you have got, the more chance you have of playing one-day cricket,'' Lewis said. ''I have worked on my bowling at the death and become a lot better at it, working on variation and changes of pace.

''Harv is such a gifted cricketer that things like that just come easy, so much so that it is hard to learn directly from guys like that.

''With such a different action, he probably couldn't explain how to do it either."