The Ashes: First Test

Trying to hold down a job has made it quite difficult to watch the progress of England's cricketers in the first Ashes Test against Australia in any depth, but I've seen enough to know that it might not go quite the way many pundits predicted.

In a drawn match there were a total of 1365 runs for the loss of only 22 wickets. Alistair Cook rattled up a huge double hundred, and there were centuries too for Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott, aswell as Michael Hussey in Australia's first innings knock of 481.

All of which run-feasting had seemed unlikely when England, having won the toss and chose to bat on the first day, were bowled out for 260. When Strauss was caught by Hussey off the bowling of Ben Hilfenhaus with just the third delivery of the match I feared the worst. Trott, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood followed not so long after, before Peter Siddle provided the game's last and most enduring bowling highlight. Siddle removed Cook, Matthew Prior and Stuart Broad in successive balls, claiming only the ninth hat-trick in Ashes history.

Australia's reply was impressive, with Hussey racking up a whopping 195 before falling to Steven Finn. By then he had helped put on a partnership of 307 with wicket-keeper batsman Brad Haddin, who himself managed 136. Despite Finn's best efforts (6-125), it looked ominous for England, who found themselves 221 runs behind at the start of their second innings. Yet the pitch was obviously flattening out, and wickets were about to become as rare as insight from Nasser Hussain.

Strauss brushed off the memory of his first innings duck to bag himself 110 before being stumped by Haddin off the bowling of Marcus North. England were 188-1 at that point, still trailing by 33 but with nine wickets in hand looking almost certain to save the match. That they did so with such apparent ease is surprising, and raises questions about how a pitch lively enough to see England bowled out on the opening day could be so friendly by the fifth.

So both sides go to Adelaide for the second Test which starts on Friday (December 3) all square. Both will be looking for a way to take the 20 wickets they will require to secure a win. England will hope Graeme Swann becomes more of a factor, while Australia may consider dropping Mitchell Johnson. They have already added Ryan Harris and Doug Bollinger to the squad and Johnson's match figures of 0-170 leave him particularly vulnerable. Seemingly his decision to forget about swinging the ball and instead opting to 'just wang it down' didn't quite work out.

What we have learned is that the Aussies, as limited as they may be in the bowling department, have theh stomach for the fight. Pundits predicting a relatively straightforward English victory in this series might be forced to think again, especailly if every pitch is going to flatten out as generously as the one we saw in Brisbane.