The Ashes: 1st Test Day 1

England 215 (59.0 overs)
Australia 75/4 (21.0 overs)
Stumps Day 1

What an action packed day of test cricket to kick off the Ashes! 14 wickets and only 290 runs scored. There was drama aplenty even before the first ball was bowled with 19 year old Ashton Agar selected to make his debut ahead of frontline spinner Nathan Lyon. Australian coach Darren Lehmann said that this was because he's a left armer and there are eight right handed English batsmen. I'm not sure this is the right mindset to take as Xavier Doherty was picked for the same reason (mainly to try and trouble Pietersen) at the start of the 2010/11 Ashes and look what happened there.

Anyway England won the toss and batted but captain Alistair Cook was removed early after edging a ball from the fired up James Pattinson. There was some rather wayward bowling early especially from Peter Siddle, but oh boy did Siddle turn it around. After going for 27 off his first four overs, Clarke swung him around to the other other end with the immediate wicket of Joe Root. He collected Pietersen after lunch and also got Trott soon after. Bell was caught in the slips, while Prior played a terrible shot to hit one straight to Phil Hughes at cover. The middle session was Australia's by virtue of Peter Siddle who with five wickets had left England reeling at 185/6.

There was not much respite after tea although Bairstow and Broad shared in a 33 run partnership. Mitchell Starc helped clean up the tail as England lost their last four wicket for 2 runs. Siddle was the chief destroyer with 5/50, while Pattinson got 3/69 and Starc 2/54. Agar bowled a tidy 7 overs for 24. There was more bad news for Shane Watson though as he injured himself while bowling. Apparently it is a lower leg injury which could mean Australia are down a bowler for the rest of the match. Meanwhile Broad was hit while batting and did not bowl, however it is believed he will bowl in the match.

Australia's innings didn't start well with Watson falling to Steven Finn, and Ed Cowan playing a horrible waft outside off stump to go next ball for a golden duck. Captain Michael Clarke was bowled by an absolute ripper by James Anderson, while Chris Rogers was out lbw for 16 despite a referral. Steve Smith played well for his 38 while Phil Hughes also remains unbeaten on 7. Interstingly Smith actually came in at 5 ahead of Hughes. Not sure if this shows confidence in Smith or no confidence in Hughes with the swinging ball. Finn and Anderson were the wicket-takers with 2 wickets apiece.

Hero of the Day: Peter Siddle
Terrible first spell, but Clarke's decision to bowl him from the other end did wonders as he tore through the England middle order and finished with figures of 5/50. Amazingly there were questions on Siddle's place in the team before  the match but he continued to prove the doubters wrong.

Villain of the Day: Ed Cowan
This was a toss up between Prior and Cowan as they both played horrible shots, but I have given Cowan the nod. He was lucky to keep his place in the side for the match, and I can't see him staying too much longer is he is going to continue to swing outside off-stump on the first ball he faces.

Who won the day? England
Although Australia's bowling performance was great, England returned fire to edge themselves in front at the moment. Probably 55-45 at the moment I think.

*By the way I try and post during play on various cricket forums using the user-name 'Cricket Brain'. Refer to the Contact tab for more details