The Ashes: Australia in England 16th Jun - 31 July

[sussexpob]

I'd go bazball if I was Warner.

[Arthur Crabtree]

So Mo won't be fielding/bowling.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Warner dropped by Blameless for 0. Supposed to be very tough chance.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Feels like Woakes has inherited Warner from Broad.

[Durhamfootman]

BBC headline is that Australia edged the first day

edged it?

kicked the door wide open, if you ask me

[Arthur Crabtree]

But not a great day for England. Are they deflated after failing to win back the Ashes? Maybe exaggerated because they feel like the rain cut them off.

[bigfluffylemon]

Not great, but I don't think it's that bad either. It's obviously not a great score, but it's enough that it's at least defendable, and England were also 60/0 at one point. The pitch is doing a bit, and Australia dropped quite a few chances.

Australia have their noses in front, IMO, but it could have been a lot worse.

[alfie]

Australia's day all right. Sent them in , missed half a dozen chances and still were batting shortly after tea chasing under 300 : Pat will be happy with that.

Lot depends on conditions today I guess. Supposed to be overcast so ought to be some swing for the England bowlers , though the pitch seemed to slow down as the day advanced so not sure they'll get a lot of help from the surface. Bowling was mostly quite tight and Australia watchful : can probably expect similar today as Australia's game plan is very different from England's in that they don't care how long it takes them to make their runs. So not usually too many gifted wickets. Stokes will need to juggle his bowlers -and presumably it will be just Root with the spin alternative as Moeen appears to be crocked.

Funny old series for Mo. Finger issues at Edgbaston , now this ; very few - and expensive - wickets : has actually been more useful with the bat. Not sure there was an oven ready alternative but I think Stokes might have hoped for a bit more from his recalled from retirement veteran.

The other vet , Anderson still battling to have any impact. Thought he was visibly frustrated early on and probably trying too hard for the magic ball ; better in his second spell. He should be patient , I think ; and concentrate on keeping an end tight to allow the likes of Wood to attack more freely - but I doubt he really needs my advice

Reckon England need a couple of good sessions today to get this back even or edge ahead. But I have given up trying to predict what is going to happen in this series so will just ensure my supply of Scotch is handy and settle back to watch ...

[Durhamfootman]

end of Ando?

Broad seems to have something in the tank still

[sussexpob]

This pitch is a bit of an enigma to me. Watching Starc bowl yesterday, you could see the seam position was mostly the same, but every single ball reacted differently. One ball he bowled to Duckett swung about 3 meters in the air, and continued to swing viciously after pitching. The next, same seam position and area of the pitch, it would come out gun barrel straight. Some balls really swung immediately from the hand, others swung late. Some balls jagged back off the seam a long way, some did nothing. Then after watching Starc get nothing or everything, Anderson barely moved the ball.... while Broad at the other end bowled a few balls that did everything, Warner being saved by the fact not even peak Bruce Lee had the reaction times to get anywhere near those balls.

The pitch can be summed up by the passage of play between England's first and 3rd wickets. Crawley got one that bounced a fraction more out of nowhere. Root then gets a similar ball, tries to ride the bounce by steering it down into the offside, and the ball just doesn't get up like he expects. Then Brook came in and should have been out twice driving at balls that just stick in the pitch a little, and leave Brook unable to really get on top of it, even if in both cases the shot was safe (wide and full balls).

Sometimes, just a hint of regular movement in between spells of the ball doing nothing is very difficult to bat against. While I wont back my house on the point, I have an inkling that England's score might be a bit better than some people suggest.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Cool, dry and cloudy today, but more rain as the game goes on. England need to push the game forward. Maybe the Aussies will be happy to hang around, and have scored slowly so far.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Humid morning too, apparently.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I suppose Mo wouldn't bowl that much today anyway. Could do with him later in the game though.

[bigfluffylemon]

My hunch is that England will chip away here and there, but Australia will patiently accumulate their way to a lead by the end of the day.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England say Mo will not bowl/field today. But they haven't ruled him out of the game.