Ashes blog – Brisbane Day 1

There were undoubted positives for England yesterday. Ian Bell continued his fine recent form with a fluent 76, and there were signs that Alistair Cook (67) and Kevin Pietersen (43) may be returning to somewhere near their best form. However, England’s biggest problem yesterday was that no batsman converted their start into a big score. If one of Bell, Pietersen, Cook or Trott (29) had converted their start into a century, then England would have reached a par score of somewhere around 350. So they aren’t a million miles away.

As for the Aussies, well they will be very pleased with yesterday's work. They will perceive that bowling England out for less than 300 gives them a big advantage going into tomorrow’s play. Peter Siddle once again went out and defied the critics who say that he shouldn’t be in the side with a wonderful bowling performance, and figures of 6-53, including a hat-trick that did for Bell, Prior and Broad, proved that Siddle is every bit the selector’s man. New boy Xavier Doherty also chipped in with a couple of wickets which will do his confidence the world of good. However, Mitchell Johnson proved that he is still the enigma of the Australian team with an abject, wayward bowling performance. Perhaps the most crucial thing for the Aussies was that they managed to negotiate the seven overs before the close of play without losing a wicket, meaning that they can start again tomorrow with a full batting line up and won’t have to rely on a night watchman.

Tomorrow will undoubtedly be the crucial day in this test match. If England can bowl the Aussies out for less than 350 then they are in with a real shout of winning the test match because they have the batting qualities to make up a deficit of less than around 100 runs. As for the Aussies, if they score more than 400 in their first innings it will be hard for England to win the match. So it really still is all to play for.

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