It seems pretty clear after Day One that both sides possess world class pace attacks - and the Aussies still have their best two bowlers to come back - but poor batting line ups.
Who wants to go back to Boycott blocking 100 balls for 20 runs, not me. This is an exhilarating spectacle. I feel sorry for the spectators who have bought tickets for the 4th and 5th days.
The quality of the spectacle also puts T20 / The Hundred / the IPL etc firmly in their place. High quality Test match pace bowling - “smell the leather, man” as the Windies bowlers used to say in the 70s.
A brilliant day of cricket. We need 250 plus in the 2nd innings. Our bowlers have got our batsmen out of jail again.
The Aussie fans & media are getting stuck into their top order batting. This will be the theme of the series, what with us carrying Crawley & Pope. Jamie Smith’s dismissal today was particularly atrocious.
He got squared up by a good one today, but if he doesn’t score 500 runs in this series I’ll be surprised.
