England v Australia - Test 1, Cardiff 8th - 12th July

First topic message reminder :

England

Lyth
Cook
Ballance
Bell
Root
Stokes
Buttler
Ali
Broad
Wood
Anderson


Australia

Warner
Rogers
Smith
Clarke
Voges
Watson
Haddin
Johnson
Starc
Lyon
Hazlewood



Officials

Umpires - HDPK Dharmasena and M Erasmus
TV umpire - CB Gaffaney
Match referee - RS Madugalle
Reserve umpire - NGB Cook



Toss

Won by England who choose to bat.

just had my first look at Haddin's drop off Root. should really have caught it, his footwork looked (and has continued to look at other times today) a little shoddy. Could be a bad day, could be age catching up with him...

Okay, so Stokes is treating this as another ODI / T20 match...nice!

Balls. Root edges Starc to first slip. Great knock.

Good catch that as well, great knock.

Well now the Aussies have got the Root of their problems out of the way they will be looking for more wickets asap

Chris Tremlett................."Terrible. terrible pitch"

Michael Vaughan ........"Very, very poor pitch"

Michael Holding "Can't wait to see how Engkland get 20 wickets on this thing"

Don't let thee morons have another Test match.....It's always the same.......

Only interested in the takings..

The pitch is a proper disappointment

It's all well and good moaning about the pitch, but when you bowl an average of two good balls an over for the main part you can't complain.

Glamorgan don't even care about about Welsh cricket so its hardly likely they were going to give a damn about English cricket and put a decent pitch on

Worst thing is people like me paid for that stadium and pitch. Epic fail

Brilliant ball

Starc's cleaned Stokes up. Moeen and Buttler really need to bat out the day for England.

Starc bowling a lovely spell here

Very good ball, got the ball in the right area and got his reward. As I said, moan about the pitch all you want but there's a bit there.

PaulHv2 wrote:Very good ball, got the ball in the right area and got his reward. As I said, moan about the pitch all you want but there's a bit there.

More in the air than off the pitch I'd say - swung all day out the hand. Good ball but on replay I think Stokes was playing too square

Mitchell Johnson's getting serenaded by the crowd. Bit early for that chaps!

Olly wrote:

PaulHv2 wrote:Very good ball, got the ball in the right area and got his reward. As I said, moan about the pitch all you want but there's a bit there.

More in the air than off the pitch I'd say - swung all day out the hand. Good ball but on replay I think Stokes was playing too square

Sort of my point though, Vaughan and co (truss included) moaning about the pitch being a poor one etc looks past that the Australians have bowled pretty poorly today. You put the ball in the right place and you'll get rewards, it's how you get 20 wickets in a test match.

312-6... 50-50, but England leading Because "a bird in the hand" and all that jazz.

Nakatomi Plaza wrote:Mitchell Johnson's getting serenaded by the crowd. Bit early for that chaps!

That's those craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy Barmy Army boys for you. That bunch I don't know. Full of so many characters

Those craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy folk I don't know...

PaulHv2 wrote:

Olly wrote:

PaulHv2 wrote:Very good ball, got the ball in the right area and got his reward. As I said, moan about the pitch all you want but there's a bit there.

More in the air than off the pitch I'd say - swung all day out the hand. Good ball but on replay I think Stokes was playing too square

Sort of my point though, Vaughan and co (truss included) moaning about the pitch being a poor one etc looks past that the Australians have bowled pretty poorly today. You put the ball in the right place and you'll get rewards, it's how you get 20 wickets in a test match.

Well that goes without saying - but compared to the pitches used during the new Zealand series this is poor. But we judge over 5 days

You've got to love the new England. Going at four an over for an entire day. I'm not sure it's particularly bright for a plethora of reasons... But its entertaining

I don't know if criticism for this pitch is warranted. Aus have taken Six wickets having lost the toss. That's decent going. Pity they've conceded at four an over.

kingraf wrote:I don't know if criticism for this pitch is warranted.  Aus have taken Six wickets having lost the toss. That's decent going. Pity they've conceded at four an over.

Agreed. There's been plenty of criticism of the pitch, but it hasn't stopped England scoring pretty freely off the worst of the Aussie bowling and it hasn't stopped the Aussies getting wickets with some really good deliveries.

I'd say the pitch is just about right...if not in the usual way.

End result: a very entertaining opening to the Ashes campaign. Whats not to like?

Glad it's not just me, plus as it goes on if it does start to spin then it's a pretty good wicket all round.

There's no way Haddin is the keeper at the end of this series - body looks wrecked after one day

50 partnership for Moeen and Buttler. Johnson's bowling some tripe late on.

Not been impressed with Johnson at all, it's as if he watched a re-run of the last Ashes series last night and figured that bowling short was the way to go. It doesn't work over here.

Theres been swing and variable bounce so although its not been lively or a classic english seamer its certainly given some balance. the main problem for Australia is that they have bowled a fair portion of junk...not to mention the keeping
Theres been periods where runs have flowed and clusters of wickets, at see that the pitch has ruined the game.

What have you done Jos. Clipped Hazlewood to mid-on. Given it away.

You can imagine the kit going across the dressing from when Butler gets in there.

Ah well end of the first day of the series. So are you English lot happy with how your team did then? My Aussie mates are happy(ish) but after the flying start felt they went off the boil a bit. Good batting from Root though

England's day, but my bet on Hazlewood to be the leading wicket taker seems not completely wasteful. If they can clean up the last three wickets real quick, then despite England presumably nailing nearly 400, Aus will have more than enough time to bat England out of the game.

England's day, but my bet on Hazlewood to be the leading wicket taker seems not completely wasteful. If they can clean up the last three wickets real quick, then despite England presumably nailing nearly 400, Aus will have more than enough time to bat England out of the game.

Marginally England's day, by about 51-49%, predominantly because of their positive scoring rate. The target of 400, which I mentioned earlier that would give them a good foothold in this Test, is still within their grasp.

Does anyone remember Broad making a century against Pakistan, many, many years ago? If he remembers, England have an outside chance of touching 450. Unlikely though!

Today we got a first glimpse at the type of pitches that will prevail during this series. Slow ones, thus nullifying the Australian advantage of pace which they utilised in such a domineering and devastating fashion last time. Mitchell Johnson's stats today illustrate this perfectly. This is a central reason for why England will win this series with aplomb.

Australia's plans were a little untidy today. They persisted with bowling short, despite being punished numerous times, mostly by Root, and their slip cordon was too deep for such a slow pitch. Accuracy, a persistent line and length were lacking, thus allowing England the gracious opportunity of attacking with gusto.

But they did have some good moments - the balls to Bell and Stokes stand out. Hazelwood was probably the bowler of the day, Starc not too far behind. They never pinned England down, though.

The moment of the day was obviously Haddin dropping Root. 43/4 if he claimed that, and a long struggle to 200 would have resulted for the English.

But he didn't, and Root countered with such gifted strokeplay. I backed him before play began to match Vaughan's efforts of 2002, though in a winning context, and he was absolutely marvellous to watch today. Ballance ground out a very important 61, while Stokes attacked for a pleasing half-century to ensure England didn't fall into a slumber after Root's dismissal.

I think England will elicit a greater deal of swing and seam on this wicket when it is their turn to bowl, and I think that - given the slowness of the track - Australia will find it very tough to match the score of the English.

Fantastic day of cricket. 

Brad Hadden man of the day.

Buttler getting out like that highlights why I think he's hyped beyond his ability, very very poor from the player who's meant to anchor the lower order.

Great line from Boycott on TMS about Haddin's drop of Root

"His feet were stuck in concrete, he got a big right mitt too it and dropped it. Maybe if he'd opened his mouth instead he'd have caught it!"

I do love Boycott, no BS just says what he thinks, every commentator should be the same.

An entertaining opening day marks the 2015 Ashes! Could catch the cricket only in between and couldn't post here earlier.
Think that was England's day despite the 7 wickets that they've lost. And that's down to their positive batting. Despite losing 7, they've already put on 343 on the board and that's a decent base to work with. With Ali in, England would be hoping the lower order will help England push pass 400. That would be a challenging total for this Australian batting lineup. Australia would want to finish things at the earliest tomorrow, they'll have to bowl a lot better for that though and catch better as well.
Absolutely splendid innings from Joe Root, despite his fine overall record and fabulous recent success, his Ashes record has been patchy, but he has already gone a long way in rectifying that. Absolutely brilliant innings, busy as always, in fact a couple of gears higher than his usual busy self and that positivity is what has given his side a bit of an advantage at the end of day 1. Garry Ballance scored some much needed runs, he really needed that early confidence booster after his recent rough patch. An entertaining performance from Stokes as well.
Another failure for Ian Bell, he needs runs and need it like yesterday!
Mitchell Johnson, after doing well in the warm-ups looked closer to the 09 version rather than the terrorizing version of 2013. But Mitchell Starc was good, and his late spell in the day could still prove significant. Hazelwood continues to getter better and better. Though he went for a few, I was always confident that Nathan Lyon turn up when it matters, and that's what he did, kept the runs down on a day when the Australians gave away a few too many and chipped in with a wicket too.
As for the selection, England didn't surprise anyone as they decided to go in with Ali in the spin bowling department. But it indeed was a bit of a surprise that Australia chose to go with Watson over Marsh. Watson really have to live up to the confidence placed in him by the management now.

It was a cracking opening day. 

Haddins drop
Stokes 6
Rooooooooot
Johnson getting the barmy army treatment 

Fantastic start and were only one day old!

Expect Ali and Broad to come out all guns blazing in the morning, suspect we will be all out before lunch and then it's over to the bowlers

As for the pitch, as I haven't followed the play for the entire day, can't say much. But when I did, it really came across as slow. The seamers really didn't have much to work with on it and all that they could do was to stay disciplined. Whether Ali and later on Lyon find some life of this track remains to be seen.
England will have to price out Michael Clarke and Steven Smith pretty early, if they get in on this slowish track, it will be real hardwork for the English bowlers.

Agree with a number of commentators on here. Just England's day. Hopefully 400+ is on, but I suspect 370+ will be a decent score, especially if there's a bit of sun around which might dry out the pitch a bit more and might exacerbate the odd bit of variable bounce in the pitch.
Of course, a lot depends on how Australia bat in the first innings, but I do think batting last MIGHT present a few problems.
Oh well. we'll see.

I personally think this pitch is very good for batting and we could very well be on for a similar game to the one we saw in 2009 against Australia here, where we make 400 odd but they surpass it and we'll have to bat out a draw

Indeed, Olly. There's still a lot of time in the game, and Australia could bat two days (asking a lot possibly, but on this pitch, 150 overs seems possible with some application), score 550-600, and basically bat England to oblivion. It refers to my earlier post about how I wasn't sure going at four an over while losing wickets was completely right.
Some might remember the 2003 South Africa vs England series. In one of the tests there we scored 500, basically, in a touch over four sessions. It was rockstar cricket. Unfortunately, it also meant England had two days to bat us almost completely out of the game despite us having 500. Sometimes, even in the first innings, time can be a factor. Bit of a chess match this Test cricket thing.

I thought the wicket was poor. Too slow for the seamers but a few too many balls keeping low so as to trouble the batsmen. The two negatives don't make a positive for me.

Near impossible to tell what the wicket will do over the next four days but, like Hoggy, suspect the bounce may become more uneven and consequently batting last more difficult. That and the runs already on the board may just tilt things slightly in our favour. However, I don't believe we've seen enough to make a meaningful call tonight.

As for the individual performances ... well, Root's rather good, isn't he, and you shouldn't give him a second chance but we all know that! Generally all well covered by others earlier. The one thing I would add here and emphasise again is that I rate Moeen as a batsman more highly than many posters. He did well in the final session and imo wouldn't necessarily be out of place in the top 6 - perhaps food for thought if anyone should need to be replaced there.

For me that was England's day.

Why?

Well let's remember that Australia came into this series as pretty warm favourites to win it so when they had England on 44 for 3 everyone expected England to be in deep trouble. The fact that we are here debating who had the best of the day in the end (a question that should never been up for debate an hour into the day) then England take the plaudits. They'll take great heart from the fact they can come back from perilous positions whilst Australia must realise now that England won't be pushovers.

Starting to believe the Joe Root hype now, he is a genuinely special batsmen, just hope we don't ruin him with the captaincy but damn that was an impressive innings. He might have been dropped on nought but the great players make you make and he did that and some, for the first time watching England think i'm in awe of one of our batsmen.

I wonder where GerrySA is? He was posting on here a month or two ago swearing blind Root would flop against Australian bowlers. Ho-hum.

CaledonianCraig wrote:I wonder where GerrySA is? He was posting on here a month or two ago swearing blind Root would flop against Australian bowlers. Ho-hum.

Don't worry - that sad little b£ll£end will be straight on here the moment Root gets a low score. If he can drag himself away from his mother's bosom that is

Steffan wrote:

Nakatomi Plaza wrote:Mitchell Johnson's getting serenaded by the crowd. Bit early for that chaps!

That's those craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy Barmy Army boys for you. That bunch I don't know. Full of so many characters

Those craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy folk I don't know...

How dare they....with their chirpy songs, trumpet and good natured humour. Where's that top of the banning order list soul crew wannabe's to kick the out of them eh...

The Barmy Army are a bunch of middle-aged twits with a trumpet. Actually very annoying if you are sat anywhere near them, and their songs are about as funny as being in a serious car accident