| England vs Austrailia, 1st Ashes Test, Edgbaston 5th July 2001- 9th July 2001 Day 1 |
| The teams: England: Austrailia: M. Trescothick M. Slater M. Atherton M. Hayden M. Butcher R. Ponting N. Hussain M. Waugh I. Ward S. Waugh A. Stewart D. Martyn U. Afzaal A.Gilchrist C. White S. Waugh A. Giles B. Lee D. Gough J. Gillespie A. Caddick G. McGrath Steve Waugh wan the toss and put England in to bat. Edgbaston historically has something in the pitch - it's called mud. Sometimes it does a little on the first morning as well, but there was no denying the pitch was good for batting. So England became 2-1 after the first ball of the second over, Gillespie getting Trescothick for 0. Mark Butcher, the reject with no batting ability whatsoever, then came to the crease, and looked in top form as he nicked a ball between the keeper and first slip, netting a boundary. Atherton looked equally as comfortable at the other end, getting dropped by Warne, then top-edging a pull shot over the keeper. Butcher was eventually dismissed for 38, the over before lunch, by Shane Warne's second ball. Nasser Hussain continued his long run of test scores, being dismissed for another low score. The problem is that once Atherton was out, then England's tail was exposed. Stewart did his best to get some runs for his team, but only the no. 11 Caddick offered any sort of resistance, getting 49 not out... Stewart and Caddick put on over 100 for the last wicket, which is more than every other partnership combined less Butcher-Atherton's 106. England scored quickly, and were finally dismissed for 294 within 45 minutes of the restart after tea. Austrailia came in and blasted the England bowling 'attack' all around the park, finishing past 100 with only one wicket down. Day 2 Not much to report today. England called a few spectators onto the pitch to bowl for them; namely Gough, Caddick, White and Giles. They didn't do well, Austrailia only losing 3 or 4 wickets in the day, while their score progressed past 400... Gough's bowling figgures currently the best, with 2 wickets for 120 or thereabouts... To Days 3 and 4 To The Daily Crigg Back to the Homepage |