Australia dominated the first day up at the ICG in Durham after England closed on 238/9, having won the toss and choosing to bat first and what was a decent pitch with something for the bowlers. It was still a pitch you would expect England to bat well on, on the opening day of a Test match though, as many England batsmen gave their wickets away.
England started ok, but very slowly showing no signs of positivity through openers Root and Cook. Root was the first to fall with 34 on the board for England, as he edged Watson to Brad Haddin, not given by Tony Hill but swiftly reviewed by the Australian's. The Yorkshire opener was forced to depart for 16 off of 52. Jonathon Trott and Alastair Cook steadied the ship, but again very slowly to start with, before Trott became a lot more fluent after lunch. He soon went to the spin of Nathan Lyon though for 49 off of 60, edging one onto the pad, with Khawaja taking a nice catch at short leg. In came Pietersen, who showed positive intent from ball one against Nathan Lyon and seemed, a bit too positive to a point of recklessness. He soon found his downfall for 26 from 35 get a thin edge from Lyon for a Haddin to take a simple catch. Alastair Cook went shortly after, having just gotten to his half-century as the England collapse began. The skipper left a Jackson Bird delivery (who was in for Mitchell Starc) that came back in and trapped him LBW for 51 off of 164. Ian Bell was next to go, 4 balls after tea for just 6, miss-cueing Lyon to Ryan Harris at mid-off. Matt Prior and Jonny Bairstow then put on a very watchful 35 for the sixth wicket before Peter Siddle trapped Prior LBW. The decision was initially given not out, looking like it may be going down leg-side before another correct Australian review showed otherwise. Prior was once again out to Peter Siddle, for the ninth time in his career, this time for 17 off of 58.
Jonny Bairstow went soon after, out LBW trying to sweep Lyon, despite a Bairstow review that showed it was just clipping the bails. Bairstow had to go though for 14 from 77 with England in big trouble at 193/7. Stuart Broad didn't hang around either, chipping Ryan Harris to David Warner for just 3 off 12. Graeme Swann was positive as usual, and took on the short ball, which turned out to be his downfall. Swann couldn't get enough on a lofted pull shot that went straight down Lyon's throat at Deep square leg, to give Harris his second wicket of the day, Swann departing for 13 from 18. James Anderson (16*) and Tim Bresnan (12*) saw England to the close, but with 1 wicket remaining Australia should clean them up quickly on Saturday morning, before looking to push on. Australia should look for a 100 run lead, on what isn't a bad surface, but may be a tough one to score on. England's poor shot choice has landed them in trouble today, gifting Nathan Lyon 4 wickets on a wicket that offered little for him. England need to bowl as well as Australia did today, and will be hoping Australia make similar mistakes to them. Australia need 1 batsman to get a big score to give them control.
Should be a fascinating day of Cricket as England will look to come back hard at Australia. I'll be back tomorrow to round-up the second day.
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