Let’s be honest it is not the best start. Strauss goes early – third ball to be exact. Siddle gets a birthday hat-trick (the 11th in Aus test history). England are bowled out for 260 and Swann gets smashed for two boundaries in his first over of the Ashes.
I hope I was wrong about this first session being decisive. England have it all to do on Day 2 they cannot afford to lose this first match. The Aussies came out like an angry tortured wallaby and simply blew us away.
All the credit must go to Peter Siddle. His hat-trick has left England 100 runs short just as we were trying to re group. Having said that the first innings was so typically English you could have written the first day review before it had started. Batsmen get in and then get out.
How many times have we seen KP, Cook and Bell make it to 40 or 50 and then not convert to three figures?
I have included Bell in that list as he should have made it from 70 – at the very least he should have been a not out on the scorecard.
Lets hope our boys higher up the batting order can produce the goods now the pressure has been on – I would hate to see the selectors come under fire for taking them to Brisbane early. I thought that was a good decision. Fingers crossed we have a better second day.
