g'day everyone im ready for some lovely cricket, Test cricket
Probable starters
England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Adam Lyth, 3 Gary Ballance, 4 Ian Bell, 5 Joe Root, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Moeen Ali, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Mark Wood, 11 James Anderson
Two Marshs, one Marsh or no Marsh. That appears to be Australia's selection conundrum. Has Chris Rogers, who missed the two Tests in West Indies with concussion, done enough to force his way back past Shaun Marsh and has Shane Watson done enough to keep his place ahead of Mitchell Marsh? The answer to both would appear to be yes.
Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Chris Rogers, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Adam Voges, 6 Shane Watson, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon
The Ashes is 5 minutes from getting underway. Despite some renewed optimism after England's performance against New Zealand, I will be satisfied at not getting whitewashed and thrilled if we win just the one Test. As good as New Zealand are, Australia are a totally different animal.
There is still a lot of question marks surrounding this England team; Is Adam Lyth a Test opener, is Ian Bell done as a Test player, can Broad, Anderson and Wood hold up to bowling in 5 Tests over a short period of time, is Moeen Ali a true frontline spinner and was Garry Ballance's footwork exposed against New Zealand.
We are about to find out. I am terrified of getting skittled out for 150.
Clarke has done a good job of rotating his bowlers. Throwing the ball to Lyon early pays off as he gets the prize wicket of Cook. England in trouble at 42/2.
Lunch on day 1: England 88/3. Australia will no doubt be very pleased with the morning session. Root and Ballance have dug in and showed some resistance. Erratic bounce was evident in the very first over from Mitchell Starc, which doesn't bode well for the rest of the match.
