Sounds like it was a cracking first day anyway. Canât ask for much more than a hat trick. Decent enough spell for England in the middle of the day but Australia will be delighted with that score after the dayâs play.
Yeah us Aussie fans are delighted with that first day.
You never get anything easy at the Gabba.
Well done lads
Definitely Australiaâs day. Vaughan reckoned early on last night that 300-350 was par on that pitch. Losing your opener third ball doesnât help. A few batsmen got starts but did not go on to big scores. Pietersen was in good nick apparently and Bell played well. Once the Cook/Bell partnership went it was trouble. Kudos to Australia for going with Siddle. First session will be crucial tonight.
I donât really need to say anything⌠
What a performance. Still buzzing over it.
Oh btw, in case I Forget.
Happy Birthday Peter Siddle⌠
England really let the initiative slip. They were coasting along at 197/4. Its an average enough Australia team. Bar Siddleâs golden spell, their attach looked fairly toothless throughout. Its the kick up the arse England needed. Man for man, they may well be a better team, but looks like theyâve been believing a bit too much of the hype. Will need to bowl well on Day 2.
Ian Bell really is in a rich vein of form and will be key.
Outstanding, outstanding stuff for the boy from Victoria. It was a very good call to pick him, Bolligerâs awful bowling for NSW in the last shield game sealed the deal. But lets not forget that Siddle is coming off a long injury lay off and has put a huge amount of work in over the off season. Fair play to him, he bowled brilliantly and not just the dodgy batters, he got Cook, KP and the Brigadier as well. Dogherty did very well in fairness as well.
But lets not get too excited. I would have thought that 250-300 was par on this field. England havenât done too badly and Cook and Bell in particular did very well. Its well set up for a decent EW attack to run through a very dodgy Aussie line up. Katcih and Watson have to stay out there as long as possible, as I can see Punter going early and Clarke and Hussey both look average enough at the moment.
As Manuel pointed out, other than Siddle, the Aussie attack didnât look the best and Johnson had a mare. They played very safely for long spells, bowling just off the stumps and not giving anyone a real chance or taking any risks. It got very boring for a while there. Cook did very well in those circumstances. Its a bit strange that Australia were so conservative in their bowling for so long, given that the ball started moving pretty early.
England should attack now and go after Australia. If Australia are still batting at the end of todays play, with about 300 on the board, they could well be heading for victory.
Good first day though, with a 16 year hat trick drought broken. Happy birthday Peter Siddle indeed.
EW and others finally make the breakthrough, Anderson taking out Watson for 36.
1/93 now, Punter surely must be on his way soon 
Its in January. Are you paying?
Game on, Punter gone for 10, J Anderson gets his second and Clarke is looking dodgy, this could be a very good session for EW.
Clarke gone for 9 after about 177 balls. North up next and almost inevitably goes for 1, Husseyâs steady on 32 and Haddinâs in. Finnâs got two and Swann just got his first. England in the box seat now, they should be able to bowl Aus out for 200-250.
The captain and vice captain gone for a combined 19 runs. The sooner they call my 7 year up the better, cos heâd score more.
This review system is a joke when it comes to lbwâs. Incredible that Hussey is still there.
With the pitch deteriorating at a quick rate I like the look of England at 9/4. Anderson bowling some lovely stuff presently
Must say I like Botham as a commentator. One of the few good commentators on Sky in any sport.
Hussey on the verge of a century here - go on my son
Botham is by a distance the worst cricket commentator on Sky. His views are at best simplistic, often just wrong. He never provides any kind of interesting insight into whatâs going on. He invariably ends up just harping on about one particular thing thatâs annoying him for an entire half-hour stint in the box (be it a field placement, scoring pace or whatever). The contrast with the likes of Atherton, Hussain and Gower is huge. Theyâll do a decent technical analysis of bowling or batting technique, which you have time to do in cricket. Atherton is particularly good.
Agree entirely with braz on Botham - heâs an awfully poor commentator. larryâs having an absolute nightmare lately.
England will have to bat well if they are to save this test. England bowled quite well in the morning session and I donât think Iâve ever seen a team bowl so well for a full session without a wicket. Anderson in particular was very unlucky not to pick up a few wickets in the first hourâs play. His influence diminishes though when the sun is beating down and the ball is not moving about. Broad & Swanny were very disappointing and they need to look at the balance of the attack. Another seamer is needed.
The umpire review decision is an utter farce. Hussey was out on 85 to the most blatant lbw you could ever see. Aleem Dar can only have been fully asleep to have missed it. England had used up both their reviews, one in particular on a very good shout so Hussey stays and bats onto 195. Whatâs the point in using technology if injustices like this continue to be perpetuated. Its amazing how time and time again over the years Australia get all these home town calls.
England need to bat for five sessions now. It is not impossible. Big ask though,
I havenât seen any of this test so far. Howâs the pitch playing?
It was still a pretty good batting track by the end of play yesterday. Cracks starting to appear though and wouldnât like to be batting on it last day.
Main difference between teams has been a purple bowling patch for Peter Siddle, Day 1. Despite all the hype, plenty of weaknesses in both teams and it really is a battle of the 4th & 5th best teams in the world.