***Official*** 1st Test at Brisbane

[S.Kennedy]

Root batted like Glenn McGrath to be honest; he resembled a giraffe on ice during his dismissal.

 

[S.Kennedy]

This is a sort of a wicket on which Aus make their customary 550/7 dec so no i don't think batting by lunch would put them in that situation. Losing only 4 wickets is good by England but they should have made more runs. This reminds me of that Chennai when Aust batted for close to five sessions after dismissing India cheaply but just couldn't score runs quick enough to bring home the advantage

I do not agree. Australians like pace on the ball and a bit of bounce. I've never known Aussie bats to be particularly fond of dead 'tennis ball' wickets.

 

[Scaly piscine]

This is a sort of a wicket on which Aus make their customary 550/7 dec so no i don't think batting by lunch would put them in that situation. Losing only 4 wickets is good by England but they should have made more runs. This reminds me of that Chennai when Aust batted for close to five sessions after dismissing India cheaply but just couldn't score runs quick enough to bring home the advantage

Yea right. We'll see if it gets easier to time tomorrow. But the ball did a little bit for everyone but slow. Rather more like an English pitch, and Australia don't get many 550s on those.

 

[Woodster]

A most intriguing opening day of the series which is finely balanced at stumps.

The pitch obviously doesn’t have the pace and sharp bounce you’d expect and I thought Vince played the most eye-catching knock of the day, he played some sumptuous drives through the offside while Stoneman was more resolute and left the ball extremely well. (I don’t mean the one he couldn’t keep out from Cummins!)

Makin came in with the Aussie tails up and did very well to get through to the close and not solely based on just surviving, a couple of his shots arguably the pick of the day.

Cummins and Lyon were the stand out Aussie bowlers for me, Lyon restricted Vince’s strokeplay and consistently threatened the outside edge of the lefties.

The quality of cricket shown today was better than I expected and hopefully an indication this may be a more competitive series than some may have thought, but it is very early days.

 

[JRC67]

I do not agree. Australians like pace on the ball and a bit of bounce. I've never known Aussie bats to be particularly fond of dead 'tennis ball' wickets.

Also the game would be effectively 2 sessions further on than the normal England all out session 3 day 1. Australia may well get up to 500, but realistically some time after lunch on the 4th day would be my guess. One of the Aussie bowlers could bowl a miracle spell in the third innings but I don't think the pitch will become unplayable. If England are to stand any chance in the series they should be able to bat 4 sessions on this wicket. A draw in Brisbane would be like a win given our poor record there. England can lose the match in the first hour tomorrow, after that someone from Australia would really have to go out and win it with big and quick runs, or a devastating spell of bowling.

 

[Stapel]

I wouldn't be surprised if Anderson & Broad will find some proper swing tomorrow. And even if not, I can't see the Aussies score 500+, regardless of howmany England will get.

 

[harsh.ag]

Will be fun to see TheBeard get Uzzy regardless of what else happens.

 

[Tangles]

Restricted to highlights while on vacation but a better start than I'd expected from England. They will need to consistently put up 400 if they want to be in this series.

Was rather amused that the 3rd string Tassie keeper was dropping clangers. It's like keeping is an actual skill you need to physically and mentally work on.

 

[Woodster]

Yes Paine should be extremely disappointed with his drop of Vince, he had a good view of it the edge wasn’t an appreciable one and he should’ve swallowed it.

That said I thought his keeping to Lyon was very clean and his feet were moving well stood back. You didn’t really notice him apart from that clanger to give Vince a life.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

A lot of selectorial back slapping going on. Best wait until the Number 3 batsman makes a second half century before getting too excited.

 

[Woodster]

A lot of selectorial back slapping going on. Best wait until the Number 3 batsman makes a second half century before getting too excited.

I don’t think anyone thinks it was the best selection or that they have been proven correct by any stretch yet.

But Vince to his credit batted extremely well today before giving it away with an ill-advised single to Lyon. What a piece of fielding that actually was!

 

[zaremba]

We've made it a habit of being 30 odd for 3 the last few years with our middle lower order getting us to passable totals, to be 194/4 with all the bats we were most worried about getting some runs is a good sign I think.

Sums it up well. Reasonably happy with where we are right now, albeit that a few quick wickets before lunch would leave us in the mire.

 

[Compton]

You’d expect a wicket in the first half hour tomorrow/today with restarting batsman and a new ball, but Australia need to get Bairstow quickly after if they want to restrict England to something below par.

 

[Top_Cat]

I'm glad that Warney that defended Paines missed chance by stating 'he hasn't kept much lately'.

Of course he ****ing hasn't

It’s a hilarious defence. Is picked because he’s considered the best specialist stumper in the country, drops one and fumbles others, “Well it’s to be expected because he hasn’t kept much lately.”

Then what the **** is he doing in the side.

 

[Gob]

Cricinfo is trash atm.

 

[Burgey]

First session will be critical tomorrow. If Stokes was with the team I think it would have been advantage England. If England are still batting at lunch I think they'll be in a position to make a defeat unlikely. The biggest plus today is they have got overs in to the suspect bodies of the Aussie quicks. Ideally all 3 will be made to bowl over 30 overs this innings. An England collapse in the first hour remains a real possibility.

They haven’t got that many overs into them, and they had a nice 3 hour break in the middle of the day. I mean, they were gong to have to bowl at some point during the match, weren’t they?

 

[Burgey]

I do not agree. Australians like pace on the ball and a bit of bounce. I've never known Aussie bats to be particularly fond of dead 'tennis ball' wickets.

It’ll get quicker today and tomorrow though, barring more rain. It just dries out into a tarmac unless there’s a lot of rain around.

 

[JRC67]

They haven’t got that many overs into them, and they had a nice 3 hour break in the middle of the day. I mean, they were gong to have to bowl at some point during the match, weren’t they?

By lunch the quicks will be up to 25 - 30 overs. If England lose 3 or 4 wickets it won't be significant, if England lose one wicket it will be hard work for Australia.

 

[Adders]

Yeah agree with JR here, yesterday was the foundation in terms of putting miles into the Aussie bowlers legs, it's what happens today that is going to count.

From here anything is possible with this England team.........skittled for 230 or still batting in the last session with 450+ on the board are both very possible scenarios IMO.

 

[Burgey]

I understand the point, but if Australia had won the toss and posted 450, they’d still have to go out and bowl at some point. I think it’ll be an issue if England bat most of today and roll Australia cheaply and they have to go out and bowl with a short turn around. I’d be surprised if even our selectors haven’t factored in one of them getting injured at some point.

Then again, it is our panel, so you never know.