The hype for this year’s Ashes Series Down Under was greater than any of the series before it and as the teams headed to the Gabba, Brisbane it looked like the fans were in for a real treat as for the first time in more than two
decades England were declared the favourites to retain the Ashes.
Never since the times of Sir Ian Botham in 1986-87 have England ever successfully retained the Ashes but if bookmakers were to be believed they were going to do it this time.
The first Test started this morning on a Brisbane pitch that was declared as a batting paradise but this was no Subcontinent where a batting paradise means a death bed for the bowlers.
Under overcast conditions and the wind blowing from east to west, any bowler bowling downhill from the Vulture Street end was going to get assistance.
Australia were going into this match on the back of three straight Test defeats while England just a few days ago defeated the Australia A side by 10 wickets.
This morning when the teams were decided, Australia named three specialist fast bowlers with Watson to support while Doherty was given his Test debut as the lone spinner in the side.
For England, Finn, Broad and Anderson were the leading pacers while Swann was going to be the solitary spinner.
England won the toss and elected to bat but the day belonged to the birthday boy Peter Siddle, who finished a good day’s work with career best figures of 6-54 as he single handedly dismantled the Poms to bowl them out for a paltry
sum of 260.
England started the match on the wrong foot and lost Andrew Strauss to Ben Hilfenhaus in the very first over of the day and Trott soon followed in the 13th over when the score hadn’t even reached half a ton.
Cook then joined hands with Kevin Pietersen to steady the ship and took the score past 100 but just as it started to look a little promising for England, Siddle struck to get rid of Pietersen on 43 and Collingwood soon followed
having only added 4 to the score card.
When Siddle got rid of Cook on 67 it opened the flood gates as Broad and Matt Prior followed on the next two balls but not before gifting the birthday boy with a hat trick.
England capitulated after that as from 197 for four at one point they folded out for a modest 260.
The Australian batsmen then negotiated a nervy 7 overs at the end of the day to finish the day at 25 for no loss with Katich playing on 15 and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 unbeaten with 9 on the board.
The day only served as a harsh reminder for the Poms as despite their impeccable performances in the tour games they still failed to gain the upper hand on the Aussies on the opening day and are on the back foot since the opening
over of the series.
Of Course there is still a long way to go in the series but with Ponting coming under heavy criticism it seems like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 are a wounded tiger whose growl frightened the life out of the Englishmen on the very first day.
If England are to have any chance in this match they will have to make early inroads into a formidable Aussie batting lineup or else they may be staring straight into the face of a defeat right from the word go.
Broad, Anderson, Swann and Finn have all been among the wickets in the tour games but the real test is now and they will have to come up with the goods on day two or its h**l Down Under.
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