Aye, sounds like England played well but we're helped by an Aus team full of butterfingers and a captain that chopped and changed so much there was no consistency in attack.

Should be good.

Guys, check this out, the funniest thing on Twitter this year:
http://twitter.com/#!/search/%40theashes

Yeah, I sent her a message last night, haven't had a response yet!

Aus 245 all out. Ponting won the toss and chose to bat in the 30+ degree heat and it should have been a good day for batting. By the sounds of it a good performance by England with some great fielding.

England haven't batted yet so it's not clear how bad (or good) their score is but according to Agnew the faces in the ABC and Channel 9 press boxes were very glum so that can only be a good sign.

Adelaide is a famously batting friendly pitch. The last time round at this ground England and Australia both scored 500+. And getting run out because you're not paying attention isn't something you can replicate when you're bowling. Aus batted terribly, their morale appears to be shot and Punter is losing his composure, which is vital in a test captain. Australia may well be one of the few teams around who could pull the test around after this but if they do they'll deserve every plaudit they'll get.

Bear in mind as well that England currently hold The Ashes. To win them back, Aus have to win the test series. A drawn series won't do them any good. If they don't win this one, they then have to win two of the remaining three. They can do that, but it will mount the pressure on them even more and the cracks are showing as it is.

Yes, there's always the possibility that England will cock it up because, well, they always can. But I think this England side is less likely to cock it up than some of their predecessors. They've shown they do have some strength of character, not least in the previous test. However I think by Sunday morning we may well already know which of the two sides - which most experts rated as pretty evenly matched before the series started - is actually most likely to come out on top in the series overall.

Jon

Have to agree, the England side of recent times looks far more assured and resilient. Notch up a good score in the dry heat and, ideally, the weather will change and get a bit more swing going so we can knock them out quick smartish. Mind you, the bowlers performed well without the help of the weather today.

I thought I was dreaming - Australia 2-3 at one point

Need the lads to bat all day Saturday and pile up a huge score ready for the Swann spin show.

Oops. Strauss out to the third ball of the day. So a century in the second innings then ?

Cook on fire.

The only question now is - can England get Australia out twice? If they can they win. If they can't, it'll be a draw. Given Collingwood and Bell haven't had a knock yet and Cook & KP show no sign of getting out easily, I can't see Aus skittling England for a low enough score to give them time to bat again and then give England a run-chase that's tricky enough.

Most likely outcome - England bat for most of the next day, declare late on with a lead of maybe 300, then spend the last day trying to take all 10 Australian second innings wickets for the win, either by an innings and a few runs or with few enough runs as a target to make the final innings a formality. Aus's best option is to hope for a collapse by England, or to hope they can bat out for a draw.

Jon

Aye, I'd imagine the same, bat tomorrow and maybe give the Aussies an hour or so. Then it's in the hands of the bowlers to see whether they can repeat day 1's performance and as to whether Aus are up to repeating the performance of England in the 1st test.

It looks like they can

Aussies are falling apart at the moment 295 for 9




yours wecrookie

304 all out


Very good win & good performance all round from England.An Innings & 71 runs




yours wecrookie

First innings loss by Aus for about 17 or 18 years and the last time we beat them by an innings was when we won the Ashes down under IIRC.

Nice work. Shame about Broad but, unlike other English sports, we thankfully don't rely on just one player to make the team.

I guess this is rip-off from a recent advertising campaign?

Anyway one bad word at the end so a NSFW warning.

Clicky