Jameswm, Prior definitely, but I think Flintoff as well fell to the old ball. The Aussies didn’t take the new ball until 4 or 5 overs before stumps..

Agree about Krejza too, though I doubt they’ll decide anything before finding out if Hauritz can bowl again in this Test.

Will we need a spinner in the 3rd test? Johnson still has to be there and Hilfy has earned his place, but Siddle, Clark and Lee will be fighting for one or two spots. I don’t see the problem with mixing things up.

Ironically, Lee seems to be better witht eh old ball and suited to a wicket that will rough the ball up. Clark seems the perfect person to have been bowling at Lords though.

Can anyone tell me if Prior got out with the old or new ball?” I think it was the old one, which is odd because it seemed genuine – not reverse – swing that got him. Why would you swing a ball after 60 overs but not 5?

pretty much sums up how he bowled.

Are we now regretting bringing just one spinner over? and who are we going to send over if Hauritz isn’t able to play?

Well, Ricky Ponting will hoping so anyway..especially if Hauritz can’t bowl..

from what I saw, if we can actually bowl reasonably well, we’ll do OK. Johnson has always had stages where he goes for a few runs. Remember, his best bowling was in South Africa, in what were effectively the 4th, 5th and 6th tests of a 6 match series. He’s still underdone, but what I can’t work out is how obvious the remedy seems to be to the rest of us, yet he hasn’t worked it out. The ball that got Prior was a cracker.

If we bowl them out for under 400, we’re right on top. To do that, we need to get Strauss in the first half hour though.

The wicket was dead and the outfield short and very fast. Hughes could be interesting to watch if he stays in for more than an hour!

Otherwise I agree with what Julian said – we need to bowl well and restrict them early, then get through Flintoff’s first spell. Also, watch Jimmy Anderson witht he new ball (he swings it both ways), but he does tend to swing it (esp his induckers) from the hand, rather than late.

So objective one is to knock off the tail quickly. I think if they can get them out under 450 then we are in a decent position. Could start to mirror Cardiff. Objective 2 is to get through Flintoff’s initial spell. He will come hard, fast and short but get through that and he will be pedestrian from then on. Who else will get the wickets is the big question for England. This is a better batting strip than Wales. There may be some time lost tomorrow but I think most of it can be made up in the following 3 days.

I think AUS will bat and bat and look to put ENG under the kosh. Surely the bowlers cannot bowl those inconsistent lines and lengths again in the 2nd dig. Maybe they were a bit jaded after the effort in Cardiff (clutching a bit I know)?

Think it will be another terrific match of Test cricket, bring it on…

While I wouldn’t necessarily have said this at 0/195, or even at 2/255 at Tea, I think England could only claim to be marginally in front at stumps on Day 1. 6/364 sounds impressive, but less so when you consider they lost 6/137 in there, and against an almost one-man attack.

I’d reckon Ponting had several heart attacks when Hauritz went off, and equally, he must be thankful for his fellow Taswegian, because none of the mainland quicks looked that impressive. Siddle looked pedestrian, again, and I don’t how you can describe Johnson at the moment. Johnson, from my count, bowled two good balls last night, and otherwise impersonated a monkey for the rest of the day – he had a menacing look, but mainly flung poo…

At least Hauritz was able to get back on, but he’d still have a bit of a wait before he can bowl again.

Hilfenhaus was clearly the best of the bowlers, and got good shape most of the day. He got Bopara with the old outswinger-outswinger-outswinger-off cutter trick made into an art form by Terry Alderman. Strauss looked otherwise unconcerned, except perhaps for some curious batting at the other end by his middle order. He’ll be relatively fresh too, having done most of his scoring from boundaries.

Australia’s fielding was poor in the first two sessions especially, and Brad Haddin led the way in this illustrious honour. I think I heard them say he’d conceded 11 byes by lunch, and a lot of his laziness or fumbles were of the sort I’d expect to see in third grade.

This all said, Australia would still be thinking they can roll England this morning, and will be able to start afresh with a ball only 5 overs old. If they can get Strauss and Broad, the rest will follow, and Hughes and Katich could be in the runs by lunch…