Home and Away - The Ashes Tour: 1st Test

So, here it is, the first test of the much anticipated 2010-11 Ashes series is over. And we're exactly where we started five days ago after a drawn match - however, one team will certainly be the happier and it sure as hell isn't the hosts! Here's the scoreboard with day-by-day analysis as I called it:

1st Test (Brisbane) - England 260 (Bell 76, Cook 67, Siddle 6-54) and 517-1d (Cook 235*, Trott 135*, Strauss 110) drew with Australia 481 (Hussey 195, Haddin 136, Katich 50, Finn 6-125) and 107-1 (Ponting 51*)

1. Australia close first innings on 25-0. I've pretty much already discussed this day's play in a previous post. However, to recap the main points: Siddle succeeded where his teammates failed because he pitched it up - his hat-trick was excellent but in general, England will be very disappointed that they gave so many wickets away. Cook grafted, Bell and Pietersen looked fluent but nobody was able to get the big score that this track suggested would be possible. Aus 1 Eng 0


2. Australia close first innings on 220-5. A day which swung back and forth started with England looking equally toothless with the ball and with the Aussie batsmen looking decidedly more solid than their counterparts. Then came the collapse from 78-0 to 143-5. Michael Clarke in particular looked in horrific touch. Anderson looked the chief wrecker, somehow finding movement with an older Kookaburra ball and generally finding a fuller length than both Finn and Broad who prefer to use their height to good effect. Finn's catch to remove the effective but ungainly Katich was outstanding for a man of his height - he seems to bowl well in spells but can otherwise be innocuous. Swann's length was far too short and allowed Haddin and Hussey to attack him late in the day - he can't get away with the length he crafted from years on the county circuit on bouncier Australian tracks. Aus 1.5 Eng 0.5


3. England close second innings 19-0. After a horrendous first hour, where the UDRS and the lack of England reviews came to Mike Hussey's rescue, he and Brad Haddin dug in to record a massive partnership full of flamboyant strokemaking. Hussey has now probably saved his Test career. Anderson was so unlucky in the morning - moving the second new ball all over the place in the perfect areas to take wickets, but to no avail on this occasion. Figures of 2-99 were frankly insulting! Instead it was Finn who eventually came through, again having bowled some average stuff on which Hussey and Haddin pounced, eventually varying between full and short deliveries, taking away the predictability factor that had previously dogged him in this innings. Australia then folded again from 450-5 to 481 all out. Without the 6th wicket stand, they'd have been nowhere in this match. Does this suggest a frailty? To be honest it's something that has long been suspected of this group of players. Aus 2.5 Eng 0.5


4. England close second innings 309-1. It appears crucial that Strauss and Cook survived 15 overs the previous day, as it allowed them to bat with relative freedom as anything that was in the pitch for the bowlers died out. Strauss may have been the man to fall but was clearly the more fluent of the two, finding timing, whereas Cook had moments of struggle. Mitchell Johnson's drop off Cook was poor in the extreme and was made to pay for his error - I'd expect most of my team to take that particular chance if nothing else! Cook took the more aggressive role as Jonathan Trott came in and looked considerably more watchful than his frenetic first innings. Cook particularly targetted debutant spinner Xavier Doherty, who looked innocuous here and appears fairly easy to negotiate. Aus 2.5 Eng 1.5


5. Australia close second innings 107-1. Game over. More of the same for the Aussies, who were well and truly put to the sword and England turned a seemingly hopeless situation around to save the game, albeit not as dramatically as in Cardiff in 2009! Trott and Cook both played to their strengths in piling on the runs and were helped by distinctly average bowling from the hapless Mitchell Johnson in particular. It's just a shame that England declared early, allowing Ricky Ponting to find a little bit of form ahead of a batsman's paradise in Adelaide. Broad's dismissal of Katich was reward for a lot of toil in the heat. Aus 2.5 Eng 2.5 - the draw a very fair result.

I'd expect one change for the Adelaide match, with Johnson making way for fellow left-armer Doug Bollinger. England should remain unchanged, but will hope their bowlers find more breakthroughs on a typically flat pitch, although the curator claims to have produced a result wicket.

In other world cricket news - the Test series between South Africa and India will not make use of the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS). Why? Because the Indians simply don't like it, having failed to get to grips with it in Sri Lanka in 2008. I find this pretty distasteful that the betterment of the game can be held back by the choice of an individual, in this case the all-powerful BCCI. The ICC has introduced the UDRS for the World Cup next year - it is clear that they see it as the way forward. Which is why they should for once stand up to the Indian Board and, rather than making it a series-by-series choice, implement it across the board in Test match cricket with no opt-out available.

RM