England started the day one of the test match with a comprehensive performance over Australia in their previous meetings. However, a forgetful batting display saw them tottering at 72 runs for the loss of six wickets at lunch. The Australian bowling attack ripped open the English top order as they closed out the first innings for 102 runs only. A Cook and MJ Prior where the only Englishmen to have reached the double figure mark on this eventful day as the Australian bowlers took control. PM Siddle was the chief destroyer for Australia picking up five wickets in the England innings. The Aussies began the run chase with a positive frame of mind as S Watson and R Pointing played crucial knocks of 51 and 78 runs each. Australia ended the day on 196 runs for the loss of four wickets.

Australia began day two of the test match with the intention of taking a huge lead over the Englishmen. They succeed in their ambitions as MJ Clarke and MJ North hammered the England bowlers all round the park with knocks of 93 and 110 runs. The English bowling attack lacked the edge as Australia continued piling runs to end up with massive 445 runs. This gave the Australians a lead of 334 runs to put the Englishmen on the back foot right from the start of their second innings. The Englishmen started the chase with a deficit and played cautiously to avoid any hiccups along the way.

The third day of the test match saw the same old story repeated once again as the Australian bowlers took charge of the situation. Except for the opening partnership between Strauss and Cook, the rest of the English batsman lacked the appetite to stay on the wicket and face the Aussie music. Significant knocks from Broad and Swann ensured that the Englishmen put up a decent 263 runs in the second innings of the test match. However, that was not enough as the Australians recorded a comfortable victory in the fourth test match. Hilfenhaus and Johnson were the chief destroyers for Australia as the series was tied before the start of the last test match.

Stuart Broad of England takes a catch of Australia's Simon Katich in 2009 Ashes npower Test Series Second Test Second Day

England dominated day 2 of the second NPower Ashes Test match, with a strong bowling performance that has left them well placed with Australia needing 79 runs to avoid the follow on with only two first innings wickets in hand.

Andrew Strauss failed to add to his overnight score – and England as a team didn’t look like adding many more after losing 3 wickets in three consecutive overs. A near half century partnership from no 10 and 11 James Anderson and Graham Onions saw England move well past 400.

After that the day was England’s. Poor batting cost the tourists dear, and England will move into day 3 well on top with the possibility of winning their first Ashes test at Lords since 1934.

Strauss’ resistance didn’t last much longer into day two, bowled leaving a ball off Ben Hilfenhaus – not adding to his overnight score of 161. Graham Swann came and went in the blink of an eye – edging the ball straight to Ricky Ponting in the slips, the Australian captain taking the easiest catch you’re ever going to see in the slips, Siddle picking up his second wicket of the innings.

As if things couldn’t get any worse for England – they did. After previously edging a ball just past the stumps, Broad then chopped on the following ball – England had lost 3 wickets in 3 overs, and were now in danger of not making 400 – despite Andrew Strauss targeting a “minimum” of 450 on the eve of Day 2.

England’s innings wasn’t over yet though, James Anderson partnered by Graham Onions frustrated the Australian attack, passing the 400 mark with a relative amount of ease. Mitchell Johnson’s boundary problems weren’t confined to day 1 either – Anderson striking him for successive fours. The partnership fell just shy of 50 – but it was much needed after a disastrous start to day 2 for England, all out for 425.

England got off to the best possible start, after previously crashing Anderson to the cover boundary – Phillip Hughes gloved the ball off an attempted hook to keeper Matt Prior. England’s start got even better when Ponting inside edged the ball onto his pad, that carried to Andrew Strauss in the slips – Australia slipping to 10/2. Ponting was unhappy with the decision, the bat appear to hit the boot – rather than the ball. However, hawkeye suggested that the ball would’ve been crashing into leg stump – the wrong method to the right decision.

Australia survived the rest of the morning session, and a 4 over stint after lunch before a short burst of rain came. Another short burst of overs was followed by another shower. The teams came back out again at 3:40pm. Australia’s Simon Katich and Michael Hussey worked on building Australia’s score. Although Hussey can count himself lucky that a mis-timed hook shot landed wide at deep backward square. Australia entered tea on 87/2.

After a slow period after tea, Simon Katich miss-pulled Graham Onions to fine leg, Stuart Broad running around took a superb diving catch to dismiss the Australian – Katich falling two short of a half century.

Andrew Flintoff removed Michael Hussey with a 95 mph delivery that Hussey left, the ball did very little – maybe bouncing a little less than Mr Cricket was expecting – but nonetheless – a superb delivery – Hussey going for 51. England’s day got better when – the following ball – Michael Clarke flicked a delivery from James Anderson to Alastair Cook at short mid wicket. With that, both batsmen at the crease hadn’t faced the ball.

And things went from bad – to worse, for the tourists. Marcus North chopping James Anderson onto his stumps, Australia floundering at 139/6. A procession became a rout when Mitchell Johnson hooked Stuart Broad down to Alastair Cook at deep backward square.

Another one – this time Haddin. Australia still needing 78 to avoid the follow on, Brad Haddin pulling the ball to mid wicket. The floodlights – causing shadows – we enough for the umpires to offer the batsmen the light, and Australia naturally took it.

The visitors end day two in deep trouble, the first three overs of the day aside – its been all England. An ill-disciplined batting performance has left their tail needing to do some serious work on just saving the follow on. England will look to skittle Australia out tomorrow, and then hammer home their advantage with possibly enforcing the follow on.

Andrew Strauss

Australia pegged England back in the final session, taking 4 English wickets as their middle order struggled against the swinging ball. England ended the day 364/6 with the game firmly in the balance.

The first action of the day came from Andrew Strauss, crashing a short, wide delivery from Mitchell Johnson to the cover boundary, two balls later Johnson drifted onto Strauss’ leg stump, and the ball got the same treatment, this time flicked to the mid wicket boundary.

Alastair Cook was then fortunate to survive, a fuller ball from Hilfenhaus edged just to the left of a diving Ricky Ponting. It was Johnson who was struggling however, in a repeat of his previous over, Strauss crashed a short wide ball square, then the next ball Johnson over compensated by bowling a full-ish ball on Strauss’ pads – again the ball was clipped behind square for four.

It wasn’t only Johnson who was being hit for boundaries, a Hilfenhaus short ball just sat up nicely for Cook to pull for four. England passed the 50 mark with little trouble after 15 overs. Johnson continued to bowl some real loose deliveries – which – like the rest of the of them – got the treatment for Alastair Cook. In 7 overs Johnson was going at nearly 7 runs an over – and had conceeded 10 boundaries.

Australia's Ben Hilfenhaus (C) celebrates taking the wicket of England's Ravi Bopara (L) in 2009 Ashes npower Test Series Second Test First Day

Peter Siddle was causing problems using the slope to move the ball away from the left handers. Cook in particular left a couple of deliveries that were mighty close to his stumps. Without success from the other end, Ponting turned to spinner Nathan Hauritz to try and make the breakthrough. England reached 100 without loss off 24.3 overs.

England continued their dominance right up until the lunchbreak – the Australian seamers struggling with their accuracy – and England entering lunch 126 without loss – without question England’s session.

After the break control was still illuding Ricky Ponting, Cook taking on Nathan Hauritz with a slog sweep over mid wicket for 4. Australia began to make mistakes, Ben Hilfenhaus bought an edge from Andrew Strauss, only to hear the no ball call from the umpire – Brad Haddin dropping the ball aswell could do little to help his confidence. Andrew Strauss bought up his 50 two balls later as England passed 150 without blemish.

If things weren’t bad enough for Ricky Ponting, they got worse when Nathan Hauritz dislocated a finger on his spinning hand attempting to claim a return catch off Andrew Strauss , Marcus North was rushed into the attack mid over.

England simply kept motoring along, as Mitchell Johnson‘s return to the attack bought him the same struggles as in the morning session. But as normally happens with wayward bowling, Johnson got one on the straight and narrow, Cook was trapped in front LBW for 95, England were 196/1.

Ravi Bopara came out and played his shots, but his aggression didn’t last very long, as he was too trapped LBW by Ben Hilfenhaus – 18 off 19 balls – a whole lot of nothing. Two out swinging deliveries followed by one which holds its line.

Hiflenhaus immeadiatly caused Kevin Pietersen problems with the swinging ball, Pietersen playing and missing a couple of times in his first over. On the stroke of tea, Pietersen was caught all ends up by a short ball, an attempted hook that – in the end – was played so badly and uncontrollably, it didn’t fall to a fielder. With Pietersen safely off strike, Andrew Strauss struck a three through backward point to bring up his hundred off 178 balls.

Peter Siddle struck after tea, a feather edge from a driving Kevin Pietersen, caught begind, 267/3 and Australia were beginning to creep back into the game. Siddle continued to trouble – Strauss flashing at one that flew through Michael Hussey at gully for 4.

Paul Collingwood was unable to build on his match saving knock at Cardiff, advancing down the wicket against Michael Clarke, he could only skew a ball to Peter Siddle. Matt Prior fell quickly – likewise at Cardiff – to the in swinger off Mitchell Johnson through the gate. Australia weren’t done there, Andrew Flintoff edging Hilfenhaus to Ricky Ponting – England now floundering on 333/6 and struggling against the swinging ball.

Andrew Strauss passed 150 – as he and Stuart Broad batted through to the end of the day , Strauss 161 not out, England 364/6 – the game in the balance once again.

England's Andrew Strauss in action against Australia 2009 Ashes npower Test Series Second Test First Day

After a nail-biting first test match the Ashes Series travels to Lord’s for the Second test match between England and Australia. Some of the key factors before the start of this match include the time wasting tactics used by the Englishmen in the first test match and Andrew Flintoff’s decision to retire from test cricket after the Ashes Series. The Australians will be aware of both these factors when they taken on England in this match to get the upper hand in the series. The pre match hype if not serious will play a key role in the outcome of this match as neither team will take each other lightly.

The Australians will know that they had England pinned right on the mat and missed securing victory by a narrow margin in Cardiff. They might go into the match a little disappointed with England happy to be on level terms. Only time will tell if these factors play a key role in the match. The conditions on field are excellent for the bowlers from both the teams as the wicket at Lord’s will offer the required pace and bounce. However, Lord’s has been a special place for the Aussies since the Englishmen have never got the better of them in this venue for the last 75 years of the Ashes series. Perhaps it is time to add a new chapter to the history of Lord’s this time round or will it be the same story as heard often while going through the pages of history.

Lord’s might be the venue where the English captain Andrew Strauss can get a huge score after missing out in the First test match. This is the ground where Strauss plays county cricket for Middlesex, so nothing is unknown to him regarding this venue. However, the Australians should not sleep on their record in this venue. The Englishmen have not fared badly on this wicket. Strauss himself has got an average of over 50 in his last few innings on this ground. The Australians will need to show similar kind of form as in the first test match to ensure that their record remains intact in this venue. The England squad will have five bowlers with a slight concern regarding Flintoff’s knee injury. Steve Harmison is there to make the squad incase Flintoff pulls out. Graham Onions might get a look in as the wicket of Lord’s might not be suitable for two spinners. The Australians are likely to send out the same squad into the field to get the better of England this time round.

Though drawn test matches happen more frequently in Lord’s but the bowlers should be happy that this pitch has a bit of juice in it to help the bowlers. The Cardiff wicket was a nightmarish situation for the English bowlers as they did not get any kind of assistance from the wicket. Neither did the Australian batsman lower their guard. In a match held in 2005, 17 wickets tumbled on the opening day on this wicket. Therefore, one should expect a lot of lively bounce and movement for the faster men in this match.

England manage to draw the first test against Australia in Ashes Series 2009

One can simply say that it was an amazing test match that just concluded between England and Australia at Cardiff. There could not have been a more perfect beginning to the Ashes series as Australia pushed hard for victory in the first test match and England managed to hold on to salvage a draw in spite of some very ordinary bowling performance in the test match by its bowlers. The Englishmen were totally outplayed in all the departments whether it be bowling, batting, or fielding. England narrowly managed to get a draw out of this test match due to some determined and courageous batting by Paul Collingwood, James Anderson, and the English spinning wizard Monty Panesar. With this result England managed to head for the second test of the Ashes series with everything to play for in the upcoming matches.

If one looks at the closing stages of the test match then it was a huge task for both Monty Panesar and James Anderson to save the game for England. However, both these English knights showed enough courage and determination to hold fort in the final overs of the day and help England escape with a draw. Both these players played solid cricket to stop the Aussie bowlers from getting the last wicket, thereby denying Australia victory in the first test match. Panesar saw off 35 balls and Anderson saw off 53 balls in the closing stages of the match to make sure that England could snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat staring right into their face. In this course of time England tried out various tactics by calling the 12th man and Physio on several occasions to make sure that the game slowed down. However, it was grit and determination of the last pair that saw England sail through to salvage this draw.

England started the first innings of the match by handing over the advantage to the Australian bowlers as they were reduced to 97 for 3 at lunch on the first day. However, some solid batting performances from thereon by Kevin Pietersen (52 runs) and Paul Collingwood (50 runs) ensured that England were going smoothly till the final session of the day. Australia struck back in the final session of day one to reduce England to 336 for 7 with just the tail left in the England first innings. The second day started off well as Graham Swann and James Anderson played with a positive frame of mind to ensure that the English tail wagged a little longer so that England could put a decent first innings score of 435 runs on board.

However, the best part of the match had ended for the Englishmen as the Australians took control. The match from Day 2 afternoon session onwards till Day 5 afternoon session belonged to the Aussies as they outplayed the Englishmen in all departments of the game. The Australian batsman butchered the English bowler as they hit them to all parts of the ground. There was arrogance in the way the Aussies played and scored runs freely as the English bowlers toiled hard to get them out. Without any major contributions from the spinning duo of Panesar and Swann, the English pace attack looked toothless on an excellent batting strip laid out in Cardiff.

The Australian batsman dictated terms to the English bowlers and showed their batsman the way to get big scores in test matches as they pilled up a huge total. The major contributions came from Katich, Pointing, North, Clarke, and Haddin as the Aussie run machine feasted on the lackluster English bowling attack.  The Aussie captain was simply outstanding in the match as he scored 150 runs to ensure that the Australians did not need to bat again. Notable contributions from Katich (122 runs), Clarke (83 runs), North (125 runs) and Haddin (121 runs) ensured that the Australians put up a mammoth 674 runs in the first innings before declaring on Day 4 with an overall lead of 239 runs. The Australian bowlers were warmed up to hit form in the second innings as the English batsman faltered on Day 5 of the test match. Had it not been for Collingwood, Panesar and Anderson, it would have been a sure shot victory for the Australians. However, the end result is that both the teams are tied at 0-0 for the series and would hope to turn the tables in the next test match.

England started the day needing to attack. Captain Andrew Strauss dropping a quick single into the covers showing their intent.

Kevin Pietersen was nearly caught out by Ben Hilfenhaus delivery, choosing to leave alone a fairly straight delivery that nipped back in. Fortunately enough for England the ball wasn’t going on to hit the stumps.

He wasn’t out of the action for long, Hilfenhaus again, driving a ball in the air through the covers. But the following delivery knocked Pietersen’s off stump out of the ground, it was merely a straight ball – Pietersen squared up, falling for 8.

Spinner Nathan Hauritz found sizeable turn on the 5th day pitch. A short wide ball got the treatment from Andrew Strauss, but the following ball – a ball that bounced a fraction higher than the previous delivery – Strauss getting a thin snick to keeper Brad Haddin – Australia were rapturous – England in ever-deepening trouble at 46/4.

Hauritz was causing England all sorts of problems. Paul Collingwood had an inside edge onto his pad, the ball popped up – but fell just short of Simon Katich in at short leg. The following delivery Collingwood edged one down, after clipping his pads the ball rolled towards the stumps, the batsman got his foot on top of the ball just before it hit.

Prior and Collingwood stood together for a while, but the stand was unlikely to last – and it didn’t. Prior miss cutting Hauritz – the ball looping up – Michael Clarke taking the catch in the slips. England starring defeat in the face at 70/5.

Ricky Ponting chose to open up after lunch with two seamers. Ben Hilfenhaus was getting the ball two swing just a fraction, Flintoff was flashing, and a edge flew past 2nd slip for 4. Flintoff and Collingwood’s 50 partnership came up off 111 balls, still a long way to go.

And a long way to go it was, Flintoff edging Mitchell Johnson to Ricky Ponting, who took the ball into his hands just before it hit the ground.

Johnson had Broad in trouble straight away, a full-ish ball hit Broad in front of leg stump – the umpire gave it not out – Hawkeye suggested the ball would have hit the outside half of leg stump.

Australia reverted to spin, Hauritz and Marcus North as England battened down the hatches. Broad’s obduracy didn’t last for long, Hauritz angling the ball back in, Broad went back – the ball skidded on and struck him on the knee roll in front of middle stump England were 159/7. Broad showing the mistake of going back to a spinner on this surface.

Collingwood bought up his half century in 167 balls. Peter Siddle got into the new batsman striking him three times on the fingers and arms in a fantastic exhibition of short pitch bowling.

The short stuff from Siddle to Swann continued after the tea interval, the Australian hitting the England spinner on the helmet – the ball running away for two leg byes.

England ground the Australians down, Swann and Collingwood passing their 50 partnership. With 20 overs left in the match – England were 24 runs behind.

With 19 overs to go, Swann went to put a ball that didn’t bounce as much as he was anticipating, pinned in front by Hilfenhaus, for a well fought 31 from 63.

Hauritz then had a shout for LBW/Caught. Ricky Ponting to a superb catch in a short leg, but agonisingly for Australia – the LBW was outside the line – and the ball didn’t hit the bat.

In the following over, Anderson got one that reared on him, there was hesitation, Collingwood got a third of the way down the pitch, Anderson – rightly – sent him back, Collingwood would have been gone with a direct hit.

Siddle finally removed Collingwood – cut the ball at Michael Hussey in the gully, juggling the ball – Hussey took it at the second attempt – 74 runs from 245 deliveries – England 6 runs behind, 1 wicket left with 11.3 overs remaining.

It was left to Anderson and Monty Panesar. And in a nail-biting finish for everyone, the two ball-by-ball batted out the time. Got ahead of the Australia score, and when the time was up Ricky Ponting shook hands with Jimmy Anderson and the game was drawn. The fans rejoiced, England had save the game.

England were sloppy, poor fielding was opitimised when Alastair Cook threw a ball in from the boundary, there was a very good chance of running out Haddin at the bowlers end, despite plenty of time, Anderson was not stationed by the stumps, and the opportunity was missed.

After lunch Haddin broke loose, the Australians looking for quick runs in time for a declaration. Also in mind was the weather, which was in danger of curtailing the fourth days play.

Haddin eventually cracked on to Ravi Bopara at deep mid wicket, and with that he departed for 121, Ricky Ponting declared on 674 – a lead of 239, with Marcus North not out for 125.

England returned to a grim scene – not only their position in the game, the clouds were looming, and the floodlights were on. They were tentative to start, after hooking him for four, Alastair Cook played across the line of a straight ball, and Mitchell Johnson had his man – England were 13/1.

The lights were on, but unfortunately for England – there was no-one at home. Ravi Bopara was unfortunate to be given out LBW, off the ground, the ball struck him well above the knee roll. Billy Doctrove didn’t agree, Ben Hilfenhaus had his wicket and England were starring down the barrell at 17/2. With a hint of rain, and the floodlights doing their bit to keep the players out there on a grim afternoon, England headed in for tea at 20/2.

And that ultimately – was that. The day was called off for the day. The weather seems much better for tomorrow, and England have their work cut-out. They still trial by 219 runs, and with nothing to play for – other than the draw – they must be moderately attacking and avoid the awful performance in Adelaide where they scored 60 runs in two sessions when trying to bat out for the draw.

Stuart Broad opened the bowling on day 3, the fourth ball in particular bursting through the surface, Katich may have left it well alone, but the signs were there that the pitch had some spice to offer. England turned to spin in the overs before the new ball, but with little success so England captain Andrew Strauss took the new ball with no hesitation.

England were hyped, James Anderson had Ricky Ponting edge one short, and another one wide, of Kevin Pietersen in the gully. But it was Katich who was first to fall, Anderson swinging a full ball that Katich simply missed, Billy Doctrove did the rest, and England had ended the 239 run partnership, Katich falling for 122.

Ponting kept the score crusing along, but it wasn’t long before Anderson had his second wicket, Michael Hussey flaying at a ball that didn’t swing – edging the Lancashire seamer through to wicket keeper Matt Prior. Strauss then turned to spin, in the form of Monty Panesar – with immediate reward. Ponting – who’d just reached the 150 mark in his previous over – went back to a ball that turned, and chopped onto his stumps.

The teams entered lunch 348/4, England much the happier side in the first session, still with 87 runs in hand, and more importantly, a ball that was doing things.

The lean spell stopped after lunch, Australia’s Michael Clarke and Marcus North settled in. For the second afternoon session in a row England’s spinners struggled with their length with Michael Clarke’s excellent footwork dominating proceedings.

Strauss’ options grew thin, turning to medium pacer Paul Collingwood as Clarke and North turned the screw on England. Australia reached the England 1st innings total with just 4 wickets down. Both players made half centuries as Australia made 458/4 at tea.

A short burst after tea, then the rain came. The players were off for two hours before returning at 6:15pm – under floodlights.

England finally got their much needed wicket as Michael Clarke could only flick a short ball from Stuart Broad to Matt Prior, falling for 83 – Clarke still doesn’t have a 100 in England. A much needed wicket for both England and Broad. Play stopped at 10 minutes to 7 – the umpires offer the batsman bad light – Australia ending the day 479/5, well ahead of England with two days to go.

With the prospect of rain on tomorrow, its seems that there are only two results possible, an Australia win and a draw. The forecasts suggest that the rain will come in early on in the afternoon, Australia will look too try and force home the advantage quickly in the morning session, before getting England in and taking what they can from the rest of day 4 and day 5.

England amassed an extra 99 runs in the morning session before finally being bowled out for 435. Australia’s start was electric, with Phil Hughes hitting a run a ball 30 before lunch. Andrew Flintoff eventually had him caught behind, but after that the play was all Australia as Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting hit centuries as Australia ended the day on 249-1, trailing England’s total by 186.

England’s start to the day was very positive. Beginning on 336/7 Stuart Broad struck two delightful fours off Peter Siddle, one a scorcher past mid off. The Nottinghamshire man met an unlucky end to his innings, a ball from Mitchell Johnson hit the underside of his thigh pad and dragged back onto his stumps.

Broad’s demise didn’t stem the scoring however, Graham Swann looked to be forceful, and keep the scoreboard ticking over, night-watchman James Anderson also got in on the act as the pair pushed three’s to the long square boundaries at the SWALEC Stadium. The positivity forced Ricky Ponting to spread sweepers on both the square boundary.

England’s aggression forced the Australian skipper to bring on Nathan Hauritz. And no doubt to the delight of batsman Graham Swann – an no doubt all of the England camp, Hauritz’s first ball spun sharply off the pitch, past the keeper for four byes.

Undeterred, Swann went after Hauritz – striking two consecutive boundaries down the ground followed by an audacious reverse sweep that went to the third man boundary. Swann and Anderson’s 50 run partnership coming up in just 38 balls as England were racing along at 7 an over in the morning session.

James Anderson fell trying to hit Hauritz over the top, and Monty Panesar after struggling for a short while, eventually edging the off-spinner to Ricky Ponting a gully.

Phil Hughes got off to a flyer at the beginning of the Australian innings, Stuart Broad imparticular on the receiving end of Hughes’ aggression as Australia made it to 39-0 in a short spell before the lunch break.

Immediately after lunch Andrew Flintoff was bought into the attack bowling around the wicket to Hughes. The over was lively, short pitched, but to Hughes’ credit – he evaded the short ball well.

A short while later Flintoff forced opener Simon Katich to punt one back at him, he stuck his giant claw in the direction of the ball, and agonisingly for him and for England, the ball popped out and down to the ground.

But the breakthrough finally came when Flintoff had Hughes get an inside edge through to ‘keeper Matt Prior who took a smart catch diving away to his right – Hughes departing for 36.

In the following over Stuart Broad had close LBW appeals against both Katich and Ricky Ponting. Katich got a feather of an inside edge on his, and Ponting had himself well outside the line of the off stump – but Broad, England and the fans, were defiantly fired up.

The pair settled in for the afternoon session, as England turned to both spinners Graham Swann and Monty Panesar without fortune. On the stroke of tea Ponting scored a 2 off Broad to take himself to 11,001 test runs – joining the select group of Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Allan Border.

Simon Katich went past 50 as Australia reached 143-1 at tea, the Flintoff/Hughes battle aside – Australia’s session.

It was much of the same after the break, the pair bought up their 100 partnership of 179 balls. Andrew Strauss tried every option available to him, but Ponting and Katich stood firm as Australia bought the 200 up. The run rate continued at 3.5 an over and England struggled to get any movement with the ball, or much life out of the pitch.

On the stroke of stumps Simon Katich bought up his hundred off 214 balls, and Ponting likewise off 155 balls. Australia ended the day in a dominant position – only 1 wicket down, and trailing by only 186 runs.

England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss, and chose to bat – hoping that the selection of two spinners would come into their favour come days 4 and 5. Australia took the shock selection to drop Stuart Clark and to play both Ben Hilfenhaus and off-spinner Nathan Hauritz.

Alastair Cook fell in a lapse in concentration – and to a great catch too. Pushing at a ball off Hilfenhaus around a foot wide of his off stump, Michael Hussey was the great full recipient of a superb catch diving to his right.

The bowling of Mitchell Johnson and Siddle imparticular was very encouraging for Australia. Both got some early life out of the pitch, Strauss’ dismissal a short ball that climbed on him from Johnson that he could only fend to Michael Clarke.

Ravi Bopara’s dismissal showed his inexperience. After struggling during the morning session – being hit in the throat of Siddle and suriving chipping a slower ball just over the in field. It was another Johnson slower ball that did for the Essex batsman. You would hope that his scores against the West Indies are a sign of his quality – rather than the lack there of, of the opposition. But Bopara looked uncomfortable throughout on one of the more passive pitches that we will play on this series.

At lunch England were 97/3 – The Australians the happier of the two sides going into lunch – England with work to do in their first innings.

In the afternoon session Australia turned to spin, in the form of Nathan Hauritz and Michael Clarke. Despite the odd miss-sweep from Pietersen England looked comfortable, with scoreboard ticking along – albeit slowly – England were just glad to gain regroup after losing wickets regularly in the first session.

Hauritz struggled – but first day is always going to be difficult – even on a pitch that will ultimately offer spin for the bowlers. Ricky Pontings inability to keep a hold on the game was apparent, boy how he misses Shane Warne right now.

Pietersen survived a huge LBW shout of Ben Hilfenhaus. But it was Collingwood who was first to fall, snicking Hilfenhaus to wicket keeper Brad Haddin, who took a confidence boosting catch diving away to his right after two similar drops in the warm up game at new road. The partnership worth 138.

Pietersen fell soon after, pre-meditating a sweep of Hauritz to a ball that was far too wide to sweep, the result edge clipped his helmet before balooning up to Simon Katich at short leg.

Andrew Flintoff and Matt Prior began the rebuilding work, playing agressively against the spin before the new ball, and the seamers after it. Matt Prior raced along to 50 from 54 balls as the pair kept the run-rate ticking over rather nicely.

But Siddle’s late spell just before the end of the game accounted for both of them – Flintoff dragging on and a lovely in swinger to remove Prior. Australia ended the day the happier side after being asked to field, needing only three more England wickets in the morning.