people speak down on nevilles batting but he's got an average of 39! He's worth inclusion just on his batting!

 Lyon may be the top bowler for either side at this point in time - in conditions at home and away. Apparently, he may have taken more wickets and outperformed Ravi Ashwin in the last 12 months.

 Former leg spinning great, Stuart MacGill, is describing Lyon as the best spinner in the world at this point in time. With Ashwin, Shah,  the Indian who bowls in sunglasses, and  a couple of the Bangladesh and Sri Lankan spinners, this is high praise.

I'm surprised at the quality of the English attack in much hotter conditions than they are used to. Anderson has got plenty out of the pitch, as has Broad. All of Ball, Woakes and Broad have bowled balls 140 - 142kph. The torrid, short pitched bowling from Cummins and Starc directed at Broad and Anderson seems to have fired them up!

Moan Ali is bowling far better than I thought he would too. Is Usman's career  at the crossroads because of his inability to play spin at Test level? We need him to sort it out - soon.

Renshaw played a good defensive innings against Tasmania a few weeks ago in the Shield on a pitch doing a bit. 

His defence looked good, but he struggled to play attacking shots. I thought he should've been retained in the Aussie team too. Border considers he is out of form.




Maxwell failed to fire in the early Shield games too. I suppose his spin bowling is not  considered as  good a back up option on Aussie pitches as subcontinental ones. ATM Australia desperately needs another bowler to back up the speed current bowlers. Only Lyon can bowl long spells.

Blewett, the Waughs, Watson and Mitch Marsh have all provided this role effectively in the last decades. Faulkner is currently injured and has lost a bit of pace. Nevertheless, he bowls long spells for Tasmania when fit.

Another former Tassie all rounder who only played one Test and who would currently be handy for his stamina and economical action in bowling fast medium, is Shaun Young, for the current Test team if he was playing. We need to keep the workload off Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood. From seeing Cummins bowl on the  subcontinent  recently, he is still is down on the express pace  and fire from over there. If he recaptures that form, he is the best fast bowler we have.

Has anyone else seen Stoinis bowl?

Paine combines Wade's leadership (although Paine is considered a far better character) and Nevill's keeping skill in one player.

Amongst the educated cricket fraternity in Tasmania, Paine is considered  an outstanding keeper. He was only dropped from a malfunctioning Tasmanian side, because he was struggling  with his batting. Hence, all of  Dunk, McDermott and Doran can keep for Tasmania. I strongly believe in selecting the best keeper, regardless of batting.

When Paine filled in for Haddin as the Aussie Test keeper, he impressed all on and off the field as a Test cricketer and was mooted as a future captain. Just like Voges and Rogers provided stability, experience and leadership a few years ago, players like Warner, and possibly Lyon, although experienced, are particularly  in the former's case, unsuitable for leadership roles.

Paine has captained Tasmania well. He probably acts as the unofficial vice- captain for the Aussie team already and has played a lot of 20/20 for Australia in recent times. Smith also struggles to hide his emotions - a poor leadership quality. Ricky Ponting contends Paine is the best keeper in the country.

You could be right. None of the players have said it though from what I've heard and read.

maxwell with a timely double hundred


shaun marsh repaying the faith so far thankfully

no played gets more faith

Pretty interesting two days of cricket.

Neither side has a great batting lineup, so I’m not surprised to see both teams struggling to crack 300. England are going to rely heavily on Cook and Root, and Australia will lean on Smith and Warner.

This could be a series where the bowlers dominate. Both teams have a pretty strong bowling attack, especially in the fast bowling department. Starc, Hazelwood, Cummins, Anderson and Broad are all quality.

So far he pitch looks good, although a bit slower than the typical gabba pitch.

marsh struggling a lot with timing

wonder if the pitch is a bit two paced

England are bowling some really good stuff here. All the bowlers are right on the money.

lets hope its a batting paradise

why on earth was renshaw and maxwell dropped

I sometimes dont feel like supporting australia the way the selectors handle things

it must affect the spirit of the team

and dropping wade is understandable

but why not have neville?

It was a  very good session for Australia. Lyon got a few deserved wickets.

 I loved the ferocious, short pitched barrage frorn Cummins and Starc at each end bowling thunderbolts at Anderson and Broad.  Two of the least gracious players of the English team by far. I enjoyed them suffering some serious heat from some Aussie intimidatory short pitched bowling. Short pitched balls at over 140 kph plus are nasty, which both delivered plenty of. One of Cummins's well directed  short pitched deliveries  was over 146kph. I've never seen Anderson in particular look so ruffled and scared.

Great first session, England all out for 302 on a batting paradise.

Good to read Jason  Gillespie in the The Guardian provide some informed insight into The Ashes.


Another good article is Mitch Johnson analysing Mitch Starc in The Age.

There is some rubbish appearing in the Murdoch press this morning. Because these journos haven't played pro cricket they write rubbish.

One claimed Cummins was great yesterday. By his subcontinental standards he isn't bowling with the same venom.

Lyon was brilliant, but because he didn't  take wickets his performance  isn't  analysed as to what he is doing technically to have improved so much.

Then there is no end of rubbish written about Paine missing a virtually impossible catch on the leg side. Nothing written about his excellent keeping, encouragement of teammates and leadership behind the stumps the rest of the time.

Then they quote the few former players making sensational comments. Former players like Peter Roebuck, Bill O'Reilly and Geoff Lawson need to be writing in the media. Although the  latter had it in for Ricky Ponting for the last 10 years of his career.

I feel a bit sorry for Vince. He batted well. The Gabba looked packed too.

Lyon's bowling was sensational. He was instrumental in keeping that score to 4/196 today.

Late in the day apart from Moen Ali, who is also a finger spinner, the other  Poms desperately didn't want to face him. Lyon took no wickets, but constantly beat the bat and was very unlucky.

 He kept the Poms under constant pressure. There was a difficult leg side chance Paine missed where he was blinded, but gee this guy's bowling has improved!

I know you aren't in Australia ATM, Grazor, but it would be good to hear a spinner like you analyse his improvement. Lyon seems to be getting loop, and drift, imparts  topspin and side spin off the pitch. Lyon said he needed to learn to back spin it more in subcontinental conditions. 

Lyon is accurate too and can bowl long spells. ATM in conditions all over the world he is arguably Australia's best bowler, and, unequivocally the most durable. Being a spinner he  doesn't expend much energy. He can bowl long spells as a stock bowler and doubles as a strike bowler too.

Cummins at times displayed the fire of India and Bangladesh, but generally he was down on pace by about 5kph. His pace dropped late in the day.

In the subcontinent Cummins took quite a few wickets from nasty balls, just short of a length rearing off the pitches devoid of much bounce over there. ATM he isn't the same bowler he was a few months ago. He was hitting the pitch very hard.

 Cummins could have been able to bowl less overs on  on the subcontinent. This is because Lyon, O'Keefe, Agar and Maxwell bowled so many overs he could bowl a few short spells of 3 or 4 over bursts.

Hazelwood also lost pace from the 140s fairly quickly after the new ball. Starc maintained his pace better late in the day, but bowls too many loose balls, as well as  his superb difficult to play balls.

l think we need a bowling all rounder to back them up.  Marsh has done it well, like Watson a few years back, but Marsh's batting has been a failure. Cartwright's bowling looks military medium and innocuous.

To date I haven't seen Scott Stoinis bowl.  

I'm not sure how potent Maxwell's off spin is in Australia. At one stage Smith was a frontline leg spinner, but he claims his body isn't up to it. Warner can bowl a few leg breaks.

England's bad run rate really cost them, I'll take 4/196.

Vince getting run out is a massive error, might turn the test match. 
Root is obviously the key.

And as I write this Root is out.
Australia on top.

That last over looked more like Cummins' recent bowling on the subcontinent! After  he bowled Stoneman he clocked 145 kph and  up to 148kph. 144.9 kph equals 90 miles per hour.  At this pace and with Cummins' usual accuracy, batsmen have to play a lot of balls at uncomfortable speeds.

Have to say I've been impressed by Vince and Stoneman's shot selection, thus far.

England off to a good start on a dead pitch.