• Yorkshire 534-9 dec and 17-0; Nottinghamshire 428

The tea interval came along in the nick of time for Nottinghamshire. The Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid had taken three for 10 in nine overs and Notts were hurtling towards the follow-on. It must have been relatively easy for Geoff Miller, the national selector, to conclude that Rashid was not bowling well; it was more of a challenge for Notts to follow suit and proclaim: "He is not bowling well. Get out there and play some shots, or we will never get out of this."

They did just that. At 291 for eight, Notts needed another 94 to avoid batting again but they made merry on a sunlit evening with a ninth-wicket stand of 114 in 16 overs. It was an alliance of the wounded. Ben Phillips, a 36-year-old seam bowler with his fourth county, had damaged a thumb failing to catch the double centurion Jonny Bairstow the previous day; Andre Adams had spent much of the day at hospital having a scan on an elbow complaint. You would not have known it. Rashid was withdrawn, the new ball came and went.

A half-decent crowd became increasingly giddy at the fun of it all and cheers rose when Phillips saved the follow-on by hauling Richard Pyrah to the short leg-side boundary for six.

Yorkshire dominated the first three days of the fixture against Notts at Headingley a fortnight ago only to crumble to 86 all out on the last afternoon and lose by 58 runs, a recovery that the Notts coach Mick Newell described as "astonishing". With a lead of 123 and all second-innings wickets intact at stumps, it would take a comparable collapse to lose again, but once again they have failed to press home their early advantage.

Yorkshire had dominated the morning courtesy of Pyrah, who is laying down some decent figures in unassuming fashion. Pyrah is the sort of medium-pacer who lulls county batsman into a comfort zone. Here, they think, is a bowler who will come nicely on to the bat on a flat deck, a batsman to help a warm day pass harmlessly by. But he seems to have developed a bit of know-how over the winter and, as for the flat deck, it has had its awkward moments.

Pyrah's pace and length exposed more indifferent bounce than any other bowler. He scuttled one through to bowl Mark Wagh, who is heading towards retirement with the sort of batting record this season to ensure he has few regrets; made one leap violently as Neil Edwards was caught at the wicket for 64; and then had Samit Patel caught in the slips as he drew him into a drive.

Alex Hales had stitches in a facial wound, after he was struck trying to hook a bouncer from Ajmal Shahzad. Hales's powerful driving has been noted by England's selectors. They say he has improved markedly against the short ball, but he will be working even harder after this.

Hales was Rashid's second victim as he pulled a rank long-hop to Ryan Sidebottom at deep-square. Chris Read was unfortunate to lodge a leg-side flick into the stomach of Joe Root at short-leg, especially as it is one of the smaller stomachs in the game, and Mullaney edged to slip. But when tea was called, Rashid's day was never quite the same again.

The best of the action from the latest round of the 2011 County Championship. Updates though the day and click here for scores

Lunchtime scoreboard

Division One
Sussex 108-0 v Hants
Nash 53* Joyce 40*

Yorkshire 101-0 v Notts
Lyth 52* Sayers 42*

Somerset 92-3 v Worcs
Andrew 2-41

Lancashire 94-2 v Warks
Moore 45* Chilton 20*

Division Two
Gloucestershire 99-2 v Middlesex
Marshall 55*

Kent 94-2 v Northants

Surrey 123-3 v Leics
de Bruyn 26* Davies 9*

1.02pm: Vic Marks writes:

Gloom has descended upon Taunton via cloud cover and the fall of three wickets: Suppiah, caught at slip; Trescothick played on (one bail dislodged) and Hildreth (run-out without facing and blameless).

It must be in the genes. The fallibility of Denis Compton's running was legendary. Grandson Nick was no more trustworthy here. He called for a ridiculous single having hit the ball firmly to mid-off and Hildreth was always going to be beaten boy the direct hit by James Cameron, a titanic effort by the fieldsman and a terrible sinking feeling for Hildreth and
Somerset. Since then Compton has been a bit becalmed and his running ever more hesitant. Kieswetter has been bellowing instructions wherever the ball has been hit.

Hildreth, captain of the Lions in the winter, has been in reasonable form this season, but has few runs to show for it. This feels like his third run-out of the summer. Aaagh. I would still expect him to captain the Lions against the Sri Lankans at Derby in a couple of weeks. The bowler tormenting Somerset the most is an old boy, Gareth Andrew, from the down the road at Street. Many more wickets from him and the locals will be mumbling.

12.06pm: Mike Selvey writes:

It's a bit different to the last time I was here. Then, Edgbaston somehow managed to secure and play eight days international cricket on a building site. Now the building site is, well, still a building site but one with the huge new stands, boxes, changing rooms, media centre and all that nearing completion. There are likely to be a few games in July of varying types and standards, and it is said that the development will be officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on July 25th. Which will be nice. Let's hope it goes as well as the grand opening of the new development at Headingley CARNEGIE.

Those hoping for a face-off between Jimmy Anderson on the one hand and Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell on the other may see that today but probably only if the two batsmen get a bowl at the Lancashire tail. Instead it is Lancashire who are batting, a welcome relief given their seven session toil, to little avail in the end, at Hove last week. Neither Sajid Mahmood nor Farveez Maharoof, both of whom played there, are in the team today, with Lancashire playing a brace of spinners to take advantage of those dry dusty turners that are such a feature of April and early May in this country. Mahmood was forced out of the attack at Hove for over use of the beamer but it is more likely to be a result of niggles than anything more sinister.

In the meantime, Lancashire have just lost their second wicket, with Karl Brown not offering a stroke to Rikki Clarke and having his off pole pegged back, leaving them 36 for two.

12.06pm: Vic Marks writes:

Greetings from Taunton.

The pitch is green, but after their humiliation against Warwickshire here Somerset chose to bat anyway. Ajantha Mendis is not playing (still a slight lower back problem) so will make his last appearance for Somerset on Sunday against Gloucestershire. Lewis Gregory, Eng U 19 captain this winter, makes his first class debut. For Worcestershire Matt Mason is resting - well, he is 37.

Bumped into Peter Trego, who is having a good season, but who has entered the national consciousness as the bloke who hit the ball, which sailed through the potting shed of a commentary box at Taunton when Edward Bevan, the veteran BBC Wales commentator, was describing the action on Monday.

The tinkle of glass, the mild alarm of Bevan and Steve James assuring the nation that Edward was still alive has been played over most of the stations of England and Wales. Edward was shaken and bruised by the experience, but he has always been "the show must go on" type. Everyone at Taunton sends him greetings - and no legal actions, please.
It took Trescothick 24 balls to get off the mark but he's still there.

11.58am: Andy Bull at the Oval writes:

Morning everyone. And a glorious one it is too. The sky is a soft and inviting shade of blue, with whisps of white clouds. Out in the middle Mark Ramprakash is back batting, and Matthew Hoggard is bowling in partnership with young Nathan Buck. What more could a red-blooded English cricket fan want? That must explain the surprisingly good turn out in the press box. I burst through the back door, sweating, panting late, to find it chock-a-block. Well, chock-a-block by current county standards.

Leicestershire have won the toss on a pitch that is as green as a landlubber's gills after a night on the ocean, and Jason Roy is already out, LBW to Hoggard. Something of a shame that, given that he is one of the more exciting young batsmen on the circuit. He's been
replaced at the crease by old faithful himself, Ramps. Just back from the cruciate ligament injury he suffered at the end of the last season. He'll be the perfect tonic for Surrey's skittish batting so far this season. Maybe Rory Hamilton-Brown will learn a thing or two about how to pace an innings as he watches him from the other end. Michael Brown and
Gary Wilson, their two openers from the last match, against Middlesex, have already been taught a lesson. Both dropped.

There's a lot to catch the eye and imagination in this match - a few young bucks, apart from Buck, James Taylor, as well as Roy and Tom Maynard, who has made a brilliant start to his Surrey career. Then there is Chris Tremlett, making his first appearance of the summer ("Hopefully you won't get to see him bowl today" said the Surrey press man, a little mournfully). This time last year I was one of the many people mocking Surrey for their policy of 'resting' Tremlett at the start of the season. Well, more fool me. They've been vindicated by what has happened since. Few careers can have changed so much in the space of 12 months has his has. Together with Yasir Arafat, Jade Dernbach and the supposedly lightning quick Stuart Meaker - who Kevin Shine was raving about at Chelmsford last week - Surrey's seam attack looks very mean indeed. That could all be for another day though, if Ramprakash has his way. And knowing Ramprakash, he will. Time for a turn about the ground, I think.

11.47am: David Hopps writes:

There was a place on the Trent Bridge ground at start of play today, probably a unique place, where thanks to the radios blaring out from the scaffolding of the Trent Bridge Inn it was possible to listen to Abba's Dancing Queen whilst watching Joe Sayers bat through a gap in the stand. Dancing Queen's uplifting, energetic and essentially carefree feel does not immediately strike you as an appropriate soundtrack for Sayers, whose batting would be more suited perhaps to something mournful from Radio 3.

It has to be said that Radio 3 is rarely heard on workmen's scaffolding, but if Sayers bats much past lunch, it could have a strange effect with the foreman suddenly insisting on one of Schubert's lesser symphonies. Stravinsky once joked: "So what if I doze off occasionally when listening to Schubert, as long as I always find myself in paradise when I wake up?" Yorkshire will feel the same way about Sayers today. He is not the most watchable batsman on the circuit, but what Yorkshire need right now is not entertainment but stability. They would be content if the Trent Bridge crowd snoozed through the whole day.

There are opportunities galore for young English professionals this season due to fewer overseas players, a consequence not just of the counties' parlous financial state but also the advent of IPL. That situation could be exacerbated by Sri Lanka's plans to start a new regional Twenty20 league in July/August, run by the Singapore company Somerset Entertainment Ventures. Salaries will not be high, but given the choice between a few Twenty20 matches or a month's slog on the county circuit, there are a few overseas players about who will opt for the former.

11.39am:

Toss and scores update:

County Championship Division One
Sussex 32-0 v Hants
Sussex won the toss and elected to bat

Yorkshire 19-0 v Notts
Yorkshire won the toss and elected to bat

Somerset 20-0 v Worcs
Somerset won the toss and elected to bat

Lancashire 30-1 v Warks
Lancashire won the toss and elected to bat

County Championship Division Two
Gloucestershire 12-0 v Middlesex
Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to bat

Kent 31-0 v Northants
Kent won the toss and elected to bat

Surrey 23-1 v Leics
Leicestershire won the toss and elected to field

Looks like the skippers decided it was a day to win the toss and bat. Except Hoggy.

10.28am: This from Andy Wilson on Twitter: Middlesex spinner Ollie Rayner very frank about his loan move from Sussex. http://tinyurl.com/68uxmxo (see quote in 8th par):

"There's a clause in my contract that says Sussex won't pull me back to Hove unless they are going to play me, so unless that happens I want to play here, and I'd like to think if I don't bat and bowl like a twat before May 12 Middlesex will want to keep me."

The following paragraph in Jon Batham's Staines News story is entertaining too:

There was no sign of batting like a t**t as Rayner shared a stand of 97 with Berg (80) against Derbyshire to get Middlesex off the ropes before finishing the job in the company of Tim Murtagh.

10.19am: The sun is shining around the country and we have the pictures to prove it:
@Yorkshire_ccc tweets:

Good morning from Trent Bridge. Another lovely day! Team news shortly http://lockerz.com/s/98589179

And @LancscricketMEN tweets from Edgbaston:

Hopefully here we go yfrog.com/h8vi9lij

10.00am: David Hopps writes:

Andy Flower has his new contract - and an agreement in principle that he can take an occasional tour off when England's international programme becomes too taxing. Tell us if you think Hugh Morris, England's managing director, is right to allow such licence. And, if he is, are you relaxed about assumptions (and they are still only assumptions) that Richard Halsall, England's fielding coach, would be likely to take charge on a minor tour in Flower's absence?
Halsall, born in Zimbabwe, has certainly improved England's fielding. But his first-class record is very limited - a handful of matches for Mashanoland Country Districts and Cambridge University. Does that not concern you, or should the coach in charge of an England tour, however temporarily, have a more impressive first-class record? Is this something that should be at the centre of discussions during England's debrief next
week. Let us know what you think.
On a lighter note, Somerset all-rounder Peter Trego is the new leader in the Walter Lawrence Trophy, awarded for the fastest hundred of the season. Trego thumped a 58-ball century, which included 8 fours and 6 sixes, in the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group C match, against Glamorgan at Taunton on Monday. But what you may have missed was the impact of one of those sixes, which smashed through the commentary box window and smashed Edward Bevan, the long-standing BBC Wales commentator in the small of the back.
Bevan, who commentates in both English and Welsh, needed 15 minutes off commentary before he recovered. All those chats with his old mate Don Shepherd, a Glamorgan cricket stalwart and one of the finest cricketers never to play for England, and Bevan still proved fallible under the high ball. You can listen to the fun here.

Round 5 of the 2011 County Championship

Good morning. Today's fixtures are:

Division One
Hampshire v Sussex at Southampton
Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire at Nottingham
Somerset v Worcestershire at Taunton
Warwickshire v Lancashire at Birmingham

Division Two
Gloucestershire v Middlesex at Bristol
Kent v Northamptonshire at Canterbury
Surrey v Leicestershire at The Oval

Your top team of writers today is: Mike Selvey at Edgbaston for Jimmy Anderson v Jonathan Trott; Vic Marks will be at Taunton; Andy Bull is at the Oval; and David Hopps will be covering the Yorks v Notts rematch, less than a fortnight after Chris Read's team stunned the Tykes with an incredible comeback.

A preview of all the counties can be found here. You can find full fixture lists for the season here. And you can follow the action throughout the season here. There's also county cricket commentaries on BBC local radio here.

County tables can be found here: Division One and Division Two. You can also follow our cricket team here and on Twitter: David Hopps, Andy Wilson, Andy Bull and Steve Busfield.

• Leg-spinner achieves career-best 11 for 114 on dry pitch
• Reece Topley takes seven Kent wickets in debut for Essex

Yorkshire claimed the first championship victory of the season, beating Worcestershire by nine wickets at New Road, with Adil Rashid achieving career-best figures of 11 for 114 to suggest that his graduation into England's Test side might not be too long delayed.

Worcester in April, normally a haven for seam bowlers, is the last place that a leg-spinner would expect to prosper, but persistent sunshine meant that the groundsman, Tim Packwood, produced a surprisingly dry pitch and Rashid reaped the benefit in front of England's chief selector, Geoff Miller.

Rashid took five for 37 in the second innings as Worcestershire were dismissed for 137, leaving Yorkshire needing 52 for victory. Worcestershire, newly promoted, had been well on top 24 hours earlier, but the match turned courtesy of Ryan Sidebottom's career-best 61 and a county-best 177 not out from Gerard Brophy.

Yorkshire's championship designs rest heavily on Rashid, 23, continuing his education in county cricket this summer, but England have a heavy winter schedule in the subcontinent and, with Mike Yardy's clinical depression threatening to end his England career, opportunities will soon beckon if he maintains this form.

Reece Topley, a gangling 17-year-old fast bowler, took seven wickets on a sterling debut for Essex against Kent, a contest between the two counties relegated from Division One. Topley, bowling left-arm inswing at briskish pace, is taking his AS exams next month at The Royal Hospital School in Suffolk and his father Don, a former Essex bowler, has spent the week acting as chauffeur. "He has more wickets than he has had driving lessons," said Topley senior.

Essex have the advantage of two fresh England batsmen – no other county can claim that after a horrendous winter schedule – but Alastair Cook, in his first meaningful match since England's Ashes success, and Ravi Bopara both got out when well set, leaving Essex 198 for six, 87 adrift of their target of 285.

Sri Lanka's sorcerer can drive England to distraction in Saturday's quarter-final, but sweeping could be the key

It is 13 years since Sri Lanka's famous victory at The Oval, and Muttiah Muralitharan has held sway over England ever since. There have been times when their batsmen have been able to counter him, and even occasions when they have dominated him, but more often than not he has come out on top. Murali's bowling has always been the key to contests between the two, in every format. And while he may not be the threat he once was, I expect this match to be just the same.

When I took over England in 1999 Murali had a psychological hold over English batsmen. Over time we were able to fix that in Test cricket. Technically, the team improved to the point where Michael Vaughan and Graham Thorpe were very secure against him defensively. But when we had to take risks the team weren't nearly as effective. Time and again in one-day cricket we would bat well and, just as we felt were edging the match, Murali would come on and change the game. He would shut down one end, the momentum would shift back to Sri Lanka and then he would take vital wickets as we tried to fight back.

One occasion when England did get the better of Murali was in the World Cup in 2007. England were chasing 235. Murali took one wicket for 48 runs. It felt like we had finally mastered the bogeyman, but we lost by two runs. I think we became over-confident, even complacent. We fell into the trap of thinking that because we had beaten Murali we had beaten Sri Lanka. That just shows how he can shape a match even when he is not bowling that well. He can distract you from Sri Lanka's other bowlers, who are very dangerous in their own right.

For instance, England have to think about how to play Lasith Malinga. He is quite predictable in that you know at the end of the innings he will be bowling yorkers. So you have to disrupt his length. Highly skilled batsmen can almost look to sweep Malinga, to get out and meet the ball on the full. Others should look to walk out at him. Walk down the line of off-stump and you can take lbw out of the equation. Go across the crease against Malinga and you get into trouble, but you need to move backwards and forwards.

Then there is Ajantha Mendis. England have not had much experience of facing him. Neither he nor Murali played in England's 3-2 series victory in Sri Lanka back in 2007, and make no mistake, the curator at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo is going to prepare a pitch that will suit those two.

A lot of teams just try to stop Murali taking wickets and settle for scoring three runs an over. By nature Murali is a defensive bowler, he is always quick to post men deep, and would rather give you singles than allow you boundaries. But if the wicket turns this approach can get quite dangerous, both ends will be locked up and then you have a huge problem. Use up too many overs and you are left needing to attack Malinga or the other spinners, which is when you become vulnerable. So psychologically that approach puts a lot of pressure on the batting side. It will be fascinating to see how Jonathan Trott plays. He has the mental strength to play that role and not to panic if the run rate drops.

A team may not want to go after Murali, but may find they have to. In the 2007 World Cup the two men who were able to score freely off him were Ravi Bopara and Paul Nixon. Kevin Pietersen was also playing Murali very well around that time, if not in that particular match. It is no coincidence that Nixon and Pietersen were both excellent at using the sweep and reverse-sweep.

English batsmen often got confused about whether to use the sweep against Murali. So many commentators seem to dislike the shot, which meant that players were wary of using it because they would be criticised if they got out.

This used to frustrate me. You have to sweep Murali to negate the variation in spin. With the sweep it does not matter which way the ball is going to turn. Then you force Murali to adjust his length by pulling it back a little shorter to stop you playing the shot. Do that and it means you can play him off the back foot. Then you have a little bit more time to read the spin of the ball off the pitch. This is crucial. It is very difficult to read Murali's bowling in the air because, unlike most off-spinners, the ball always has a scrambled seam, whether it is a doosra or an off-break.

When you are playing off the back foot you have to pounce on anything slightly short and look to work it to the leg-side or to cut him to the off if it is a doosra. These are the best ways to score off him. For English batsmen, who go hard at the ball, it is very difficult to hit him down the ground. He knows this and sets his fields accordingly.

Murali is retiring after this World Cup. Other teams seem to have figured him out over the years, but England have always struggled. This is their final chance to get it right.

With his stunning evisceration of Australia's top order, Tim Bresnan justified the decision to remove Steven Finn

When England have been good on this tour, they have been very, very good in thought, word and, Perth excepted, deed. After the grand, tension-free escape in Brisbane, there was the textbook victory in Adelaide, a well-nigh perfect performance.

At the Waca they batted poorly but at least the think-tank was operating with a clinical, clear-sighted logic, which has been consistently absent from the Australian quarter. There Chris Tremlett was chosen to replace Stuart Broad, patently the correct decision.

• Interactive guide to all the Ashes venues
• Sign up now for our weekly email The Spin
• How to stay awake during the Tests
• Follow our daily blog throughout the Ashes
• The latest news and comment on our Ashes site

England were never going to overhaul the team after that defeat in Perth. All the batsmen survived, but they did make one change for Melbourne: they dropped the leading wicket-taker in the series, Steven Finn. Not many teams do that. It is so easy to be swayed by statistics rather than the evidence of your own eyes.

Out went Finn. In came Tim Bresnan and the logic is now indisputable. Finn, despite his 14 wickets in the series, was looking weary by the end of the Perth Test; his body was starting to rebel. Moreover England knew that whichever of the drop-in pitches were used in Melbourne there would not be the steep bounce of the Waca, but there might be seam movement off a tacky surface and the possibilities of reverse swing. Conditions would be not so different to those experienced at Headingley (in fact for two days at the MCG it was as cold as Leeds) so who better to bring in to the team than the Tyke?

As has been the case whenever this England side has been on the eastern side of this country, whatever decision they have taken, has worked a treat. In the first innings Bresnan played the anticipated role. He was the self-effacing support bowler - even if it goes against the grain of most Yorkshiremen, Bresnan most definitely included, to embrace self-effacement.

Phil Hughes swished in his second over of the match and was caught in the gully. Perhaps the young Australian had underestimated him as well. For a dozen overs Hughes had been tested by Jimmy Anderson and Tremlett, the obvious and identifiable threats in the England attack; maybe young Bresnan, fifth-choice seamer, would provide some easy pickings for a batsman, who has to dominate to survive.

Brad Haddin also seemed to take him too lightly as he drove airily outside the off-stump and edged to Matt Prior. Bresnan had yielded nothing as England's latest pace trio hunted in a pack; in fact he had been the most economical of them all. Sunday was probably his second-best day as an England bowler. He has had some success in Bangladesh on those soul-destroying surfaces, but this was Australia, the MCG and the Ashes and he had slotted seamlessly (or is it seamfully?) into the side.

But Tuesday, the third day, must have been his best for England. Now Bresnan was the leader of the pack. That began to become evident in his first spell even though it was wicketless. The ball had been flying all around the MCG; the Australian 50 had come inside 10 overs. England's "bowling dry" policy had gone awry.

Enter Bresnan for seven overs and five maidens. The brakes were applied. Shane Watson was briefly becalmed and called Hughes for a wildly inappropriate single. Then Andrew Strauss sensibly strengthened his slip cordon. Bresnan was not only on target, stemming the flow of runs, he was passing the outside edge now and again.

In this Test Bresnan has booted the charge that he looks a bland trundler at this level into the River Yarra. The speed gun can be misleading - all the Australians have been at the top of the table in this game but what good has it done them? - but it has also told us that Bresnan has been the quickest of the English bowlers in this match.

If Bresnan's first spell stalled the Australians, his second stunned them. First there was Watson, wanton Watto, who promises so much, who delivers a fair bit, but who should produce much more given the number of starts he gets as an opening batsman, padding up to another delivery with a hint of reverse swing. Ricky Ponting looked on as the review system continued to do his side no favours. The decision of umpire Tony Hill was upheld.

Then Ponting himself was undermined by a little movement off the pitch, a little extra pace and the prospect of a task that was ever more monumental. An inside edge cannoned on to the stumps. Ponting's wicket has been the totemic one throughout the series, Mike Hussey's has been the hardest to procure, but here the suddenly mortal Mr Cricket hit a crisp drive into the hands of Ian Bell at short extra cover.

As Bresnan rocked down to the boundary at the end of another successful over he received rapturous applause, acknowledged with a perky wave of the hand. He looked like a Yorkshireman as he did so, the sort of Yorkshireman that all those living within a stone's throw of Pontefract would be proud to be: no-nonsense, bluff, cheerful, with a heart the size of a cabbage.

There may have been doubts before this match that Bresnan would have the penetration to have an impact against Test-standard batsmen, but there were no worries that he would be overawed by the occasion and the size of the crowd. It was a game of cricket, for heaven's sake, and that's what they are reared on up there.

Bresnan may only be 25 but he has been playing first-class cricket on a regular basis since he was 18. He has long been a Yorkshire stalwart, filling in manfully, even as a teenager, when the glamour boys - if that is how we can describe Darren Gough and Matthew Hoggard - were off playing for England.

Yorkshire may not see quite so much of Bresnan in the years to come. He is now an ink-in regular in the one-day side and after this performance he is clamouring for a more regular place in the Test team. Down in St Johns's Wood they now recognise what has been common knowledge up north for years: that Bresnan will never let you down.

• Australia captain may be punished after berating umpire
• Australia 98; England 444-5. Over-by-over report

England continued their domination of Australia in the fourth Test – much to the frustration of the Australia captain, Ricky Ponting, on a bad-tempered second afternoon at the MCG.

As Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott each posted half-centuries to help stretch England's lead to 346, the trying experience appeared to push Ponting too far. His anger boiled over in an ugly confrontation with both umpires, after DRS procedure ruled in Pietersen's favour over a failed caught-behind appeal.

Pietersen was just one short of his 50 when Brad Haddin convinced his team-mates to review Aleem Dar's not-out decision off the bowling of Ryan Harris. No simulated evidence emerged to support Australia's review, and the initial verdict was duly confirmed.

But that did not stop Ponting, and Peter Siddle, berating Dar – and then his colleague Tony Hill – in an unseemly incident which halted play for minutes rather than seconds. It was highly likely therefore that the under-pressure Australia captain, and Siddle too, would attract the attention of the match referee, Ranjan Madugalle.

It would be surprising, after such an unedifying spat – in front of more than 50,000 eye witnesses and millions of television viewers – if the umpires did not report the matter. A resulting Level Two charge for dissent, under the International Cricket Council's code of conduct, brings with it the possibility of a one-Test ban – although a match fee fine is more often the outcome of a proven case.

An eventful afternoon brought plenty more mixed emotions for Ponting, after Siddle (three for 41) had given Australia a much-needed kick-start on day two of this pivotal match. They began already 59 runs behind, with no English wickets down, after their hapless 98 all out yesterday. But Siddle made short work of the openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, who had an unbroken stand of 157 to their name overnight but could add only another seven runs between them.

Pietersen (51) and Trott (65 not out) then put on 92 together to keep England on course for a victory which would mean the series score is 2-1 in their favour and the Ashes are retained. Cloudy morning conditions were eerily similar to those which helped to undermine Australia 24 hours earlier, and Siddle soon proved there were still some demons in this pitch when the sun is hiding.

The movement across Cook (82), for an edge and neat catch low down at slip by Shane Watson, was not outrageous.

But the delivery which did for Strauss (69) was every bit as lethal as the one his opposite number Ponting failed to cope with yesterday. Siddle got the ball to seam back at the left-hander and kick so alarmingly that it required an outstanding one-handed catch high above his head at gully by Michael Hussey to complete the dismissal.

Events continued to go largely England's way – notably Pietersen surviving his controversial DRS – and Trott needing a third-umpire ruling when he almost ran himself out chancing a third run on Ponting's arm from the outfield to go to 49.

But Siddle got his hands on a nearly new ball, moments after his part in the DRS altercation, and duly saw off Pietersen lbw on the back foot to one that kept low and jagged back.

Mitchell Johnson's bouncer tactics then saw off the out-of-form Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell, for a rare failure, when both holed out on the hook at deep fine-leg – each time to Siddle, who could not be kept out of the game on his home ground.

In Trott, England nonetheless had a banker bet to consolidate their advantage. He managed only three fours in his 118-ball 50 but served his team wonderfully well with a determined 141 not out by close of play.

Another kick in the teeth was awaiting Australia too – Dar again taking a central role.

The umpire gave Matt Prior out for a routine caught-behind off Johnson, only to belatedly query – as the batsman was walking off past him and Tim Bresnan, next in, was on his way to the middle – whether the bowler had overstepped.

Consultation with the third umpire confirmed a marginal no-ball, and Prior survived in unusual circumstances to build a fantastic total of 75 not out.

• 'I'd have to snap in half to miss last two games'
• Pace bowler says dismissing Australia was an amazing feeling

Jimmy Anderson, the leader of a rampant England pace attack that inflicted on Australia one of its most embarrassing days in Ashes history, made light of suggestions that he had been seen gingerly feeling his injured side. "It's probably just an itch," he said.

That England are itching to win the Ashes is unmistakable, and it appears that Anderson is now showing physical manifestations of it.

He admitted to a slight reminder of his injury as Australia collapsed to 98 all out, but nothing for England to fret unduly about as they seek to win at the MCG to go 2-1 up with one to play. "I did have a bit of stiffness but I would have to snap in half before I didn't play in the last two games," he said.

At the start of the series, Anderson was supported by Stuart Broad and Steve Finn. By the fourth Test, this had become Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan. But this was England's most disciplined bowling display of the series as they hustled Australia into error.

Much had been made of the MCG's drop-in pitches. They seemed to have dropped one in from Derby, and just to add to England's delight Melbourne provided some weather reminiscent of one of England's coldest county grounds in early May.

Anderson, whose first wicket was the prize scalp of Mike Hussey, who has made 525 runs in the series, said: "It is a credit to the strength of the squad, especially Tim Bresnan who sat out the first three games, and then came in and bowled as well as he did. I thought Chris Tremlett bowled fantastically well both in Perth and here.

"To bowl Australia out for under 100 and be 150-odd for nought at the end of the day is just unheard of. Today was the day when all those bits of luck came together. It was one of those days when everything came off.

"It was a great toss to win. There is always a danger as a bowling unit that you get carried away but I thought we stuck at our task fantastically well. It was great pressure. To dismiss Australia so emphatically was an amazing feeling.

"It wasn't really a swinging sort of day. We were just concentrating on trying to hit the seam and the ball did just enough. The grass helped and the overcast conditions. By the time they were seven or eight wickets down we felt the pitch was going pretty flat. We know how hard it will be to get 10 Australian wickets second time round."

The Ashes loomed once more into England’s view in the Boxing Day Test as they dismissed Australia for 98. On another dramatic day in the series – there have been few undramatic ones – the tourists made wonderful use of conditions that favoured seam bowling.

Andrew Strauss is expected to lead the same damaged men into the fourth Test on Boxing Day in front of a record crowd

So we come to the climax. First Australia, then emphatically England and, just as emphatically, Australia once more. This series has tottered this way and that like a Christmas Eve drunk on his way home. On Sunday 90,000 people will journey to the MCG to see what may well prove to be the defining match. The forecast for the match is set fair but not so for the Sydney Test in the new year. It may well be that whoever comes off better in Melbourne will take the spoils.

Simplistic it may be, and clichéd, to say that the defeat in Perth was a jolt to the system, a wake-up call for the England players, but in any sport it never pays to go through the victory speech before the deed is done. There are no two more grounded individuals than the Andys, Flower and Strauss, but ultimately cricketers have to think for themselves and some players may have got a little ahead of the game. For this match normal service will be resumed.

The consistency that makes champions, and that Flower sees as his biggest challenge, has yet to materialise but rarely do England have two bad games in a row. Australia may be cock-a-hoop after their overwhelming win at the Waca but they understand well enough the potential for a backlash.

For the past few days the centre of attention has been the pitch prepared by Cameron Hodgkins. It suited some to find conspiracy in the fact that what would normally be his first-choice pitch was being discarded in favour of another. Australian groundsmen, the curators as they are called here, are fiercely independent, however, their reputations dependent on the quality of the surface they produce.

The inclement weather that has blighted Melbourne for months so hampered preparation that it was a logical expedient and plain commonsense to prepare several surfaces and then see which one was best developing. Hodgkins had decided on his pitch before the Perth Test began and all the intelligence is that, accordingly, it will play as does a Melbourne Test pitch generally: help for the new ball, off the seam largely, and then little beyond some reverse swing. Early losses can be rectified in later sessions.

Neither side has arrived in Melbourne with any certainty as to what its starting XI will be. England will certainly not be panicked into making wholesale changes and may not make any at all. Central to this is Steven Finn, who is the leading wicket-taker in the series but who also has tended to leak runs at an alarming rate at times – around a run a ball in Perth. With only three seamers, and the reluctant use of Graeme Swann, Strauss was unable to maintain the sort of control that Ben Hilfenhaus, unselfishly, was able to offer Ricky Ponting. So there is sure to be debate.

Finn's virtue is his wicket-taking capacity and there is some mitigation for his figures in Perth, where two lengths were demanded: bouncer and full length. That he was driven too frequently was a direct function of his bouncer, which was not sufficiently short or potent to force the main players, Shane Watson and Mike Hussey, on to the back foot, and which was pulled mercilessly. His full length was no different from that exploited so well by Ryan Harris in particular but, in being allowed to play it from in front of the crease rather than pinned back as England's batsmen were, Watson and Hussey were able to pick him off. When he did go short, he was pulled.

It could, and will, be argued that, if Finn is strong enough (and Flower insists he is), he should play. Certainly, in trying to rough him up, Australians are letting him know he is a concern for them. Already, with the selection of Chris Tremlett in Perth, Strauss and Flower have shown fearlessness when they might have gone for dependability.

The same might apply here. It is feasible, on a pitch that will not have the same high-octane quality as that at the Waca, that Tim Bresnan would do a steady holding job and leave the strike bowling to Jimmy Anderson and Tremlett. It is also feasible that they could take a bolder decision and go for Ajmal Shahzad, who is the most adept reverse-swinger and showed in Hobart that he can bowl effectively to left-handers. The most radical thing, though, would be to show faith in Finn. Often the best decisions are those that would please the opposition least. Finn, the Australians know, can damage them.

Beyond that England could swap Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell in the order but will not. There is a very good chance that this game and the one in Sydney will be Collingwood's last Test matches and that, by the summer – on his own initiative but probably with gentle encouragement – he will have retired from Tests to concentrate on the shorter forms. Simply knowing that the end is in sight may for now be stimulus for this most cussed of cricketers to produce something when it is needed, not just by the team but by himself.

His absence is not an option for Eoin Morgan has much to learn about Test match batting and will get the chance next summer. Collingwood's catching is so potent, not least to Swann, that it is worth runs in itself. Were he not to be there at slip for Swann, it is Anderson who has been earmarked and groomed to take on the role.

Meanwhile despite their win, Australia have more fundamental selection problems. Of course Ponting will play, even with a cracked little finger. But they must now decide whether to continue with the winning format from Perth, which – given it is 52 years since they won an MCG Test with four seamers (and even then had Richie Benaud's leg spin) and have never in 102 matches over 135 years not had a frontline spinner there – would represent a massive deviation from historical precedent. If not, they must play a spinner of no international and little first-class experience in place either of the bowler who lent them control in Perth or of the one who took a hat-trick in Brisbane. An educated guess, on the back of their win, would be for an unchanged XI.

The loss of Stuart Broad has upset the balance of the four-man attack but England are right not to bring in an extra bowler

'Now is not the time to panic," said Andrew Strauss after the third Test. Not for the first time, his words were spot on. England must react calmly to defeat. I do not think that they need to alter their XI, and they should be wary of doing so unless they are making changes that have been planned and prepared for a long time in advance. If there is any serious debate surrounding the decisions then they should err towards leaving the team be.

In this situation a team needs to be very careful who they point fingers at, even indirectly, because they risk disrupting the team by knocking the confidence of players who have performed well on the tour so far. Take Steve Finn. The suggestion is that he should be rested. But he has taken more wickets in the series than any other bowler. Are you really going to sacrifice that threat just because he goes for an extra run an over? It may cost you 30 or so runs an innings, but as long as Finn is getting wickets – and he has been getting key ones at crucial times – England should not mind paying that price.

It has been clear for a long time that Andy Flower and Andy Strauss were throwing all their eggs into one basket by picking and sticking with a four-man attack for so long. I have never been that comfortable with the strategy and now the problems it presents are starting to become apparent. At the same time Flower is right to rule out the idea of bringing an extra bowler into the team midway through the series. To do that now would only signal panic and it would also weaken the batting too much, especially now that Stuart Broad is out injured. To play five bowlers England would need a spinner who could bat. Graeme Swann has the capability to be a genuine all-rounder but he has not batted anything like as well as he would need to.

• Interactive guide to all the Ashes venues
• Sign up now for our weekly email The Spin
• How to stay awake during the Tests
• Follow our daily blog throughout the Ashes
• The latest news and comment on our Ashes site

The balance of England's four-man attack was upset by Broad's injury. Test match bowling is about working as a unit, each member has to have their own distinct role and know it inside-out. Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson split the wickets for Australia at Perth, but Ricky Ponting was right to praise the contribution of Ben Hilfenhaus, who bowled 31 overs for 66 runs.

Tremlett bowled aggressively and well for his eight wickets. But the knock-on effect of his performance is that the selectors' jobs have become much harder. England have been left with three attacking quick bowlers. They do not want to force Jimmy Anderson, who can be such a dangerous bowler, to try to do the job of containing the batsmen and limiting the scoring. That means they will either have to drop someone or rely on Swann to be their holding bowler in the next Test. Again, a lot of the onus will fall on him.

Mike Hussey has played Swann very well in the series so far. He has been able to because Swann is still not getting that drift in the air that makes him so awkward to face. Hussey's is the key wicket. Australia have been batting around him. England have the right idea about how to get Hussey out but are not executing it well.

The key is to bowl short to him, as they have done. As much as he has worked on the hook and pull shots he still plays them very mechanically. But it is a question of quality, not quantity. He is a shrewd batsman and has been quick to adapt to England's bouncers. The bowlers have to surprise him with the short ball, not bomb him with it. And then the follow-up delivery is critical. They have to drag him forward and try to get him caught behind playing at the ball outside his off-stump. It is all about how you set the batsman up. Get the threat of the bouncer right and you can disrupt Hussey's foot movement for his front-foot shots.

Even with the switch of pitches the wicket at the MCG is unlikely to be nearly as fast as the one at Perth. If it is then the curator will deserve a lot of credit.

In my experience the MCG has tended to be a little flat. England should be more comfortable on it and Australia will be taking a huge risk if they go in to the Test with five seam bowlers and no reliable spinner again.

Whatever happens next the series has come alive. And England still have a huge advantage in that they can retain the Ashes just by winning one of the next two matches. Australia know they cannot afford to lose. That must be a driving factor in how the series plays out.

Without the wind to assist him at the MCG, Mitchell Johnson may not pose the threat to England that he did in Perth

Imagine a leg‑break bowler who cannot bowl a googly or top‑spinner. Or an off‑break bowler without a drifter. Then contemplate the lot of a left-arm pace bowler whose sole modus operandi is to fire the ball across the bows of the right‑handed batsman and hope he chases one and edges. Think in fact of Alan Mullally. There are few things batsmen like more than a predictable bowler who spins or swings it one way only.

For two years, since he destroyed South Africa in Durban, until he did the same to England at the Waca, that was the fortune of Mitchell Johnson. Fast of course when he got it right, but the more he tried to swing the ball into the right‑hander, the delivery that is fundamental to any left‑arm paceman of ambition, the more it seemed to want to do the opposite.

• Interactive guide to all the Ashes venues
• Sign up now for our weekly email The Spin
• How to stay awake during the Tests
• Follow our daily blog throughout the Ashes
• The latest news and comment on our Ashes site

So batsmen were able to play him on the line. Anything on the stumps and bat could be put to ball while anything off target could be ignored secure in the knowledge that it was not going to boomerang back and make them look foolish. Then, last Friday, in one inspirational bowling spell, that whole perception changed. From here on in it may not actually matter if Johnson gets another ball from the straight, for the notion has been planted that he might, and the threat is often as potent as the deed.

Quite how Johnson manages to swing the ball at all is a mystery, probably as much to him as anyone. Certainly he does not conform to the normal physical laws of orthodox swing bowling, where the seam is upright and a loose wrist promotes backward rotation on the ball to maintain its stability, like a gyroscope. No teachers of swing would need to look further than the seam position maintained by Jimmy Anderson at his best.

But this is all delivered from a high arm action. Johnson's bowling arm is so low, a round‑arm slingshot, that the umpires will soon be required to wear hard hats. So low indeed that he cannot physically get his wrist into the upright position that can deliver a perfect seam. In fact it was perplexing to see the television super-slow motion, which showed the seam scrambling on the way down, which is to say revolving randomly. Unless very occasionally the seam actually scrambles itself into the correct position by chance, it is hard to understand how the ball then swerves.

Nor is it quite the same as the movement obtained by the Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga, with whom Johnson is often compared. However, the difference is considerable, Johnson's bowling arm coming round between 10 and 11 on a clock face, while Malinga "The Slinger" would barely reach 10 o'clock. The swing Malinga gets is more akin to that which might be seen with a Frisbee, a skimming motion, where the rotation on the ball is almost in a horizontal plane: swerve rather than swing in other words.

Instead, leaving aside all the reports of remedial work done since he was dropped from the Adelaide Test (which seem to range from eulogising Troy Cooley's biomechanics to a 10‑minute session with Dennis Lillee) the strongest theory regarding Johnson's performance in Perth relates to nothing more than the wind. From the second day onwards, the wind blew consistently oven-hot from the east, a counterpoint to the prevailing Fremantle Doctor, the cooling south‑westerly sea breeze that comes up the Swan River virtually on a daily basis at some stage in the afternoon. This easterly, say those who know the Waca well, is the wind that promotes swing.

But an understanding of why it happened makes it no easier to play. In fact, it was the arbitrary nature of his spell that contributed to England's downfall, for alert batsmen can look for clues in the bowler, from the way he holds the ball, to spotting the shiny side. Quite clearly Johnson tried to bowl considerably more of the inswinging delivery but succeeded only in pushing the ball wide instead as it refused to change course. Leaving the ball in such circumstance becomes fraught, to which Paul Collingwood would testify, his decision to offer no stroke too far gone to be able to react sufficiently quickly when the ball ducked into his pads.

It will be a surprise if Johnson can repeat his trickery at the MCG. Fully enclosed grounds can create their own micro-climate, but as with the Gabba it is not renowned as a swinging ground but rather one that can seam while the ball is new, and perhaps reverse swings later. The danger for England's batsmen now, though, is that because of the potential, there will be a temptation to want to play deliveries that until now their gameplan has been to avoid. It is a mindset they will do well to avoid although one it will be hard to avoid.

As Andy Flower has said about Perth, although the destructive spell came when the Australians had had a chance to work on the ball, there were indications with the newish ball to England's pair of left‑handed openers that he was just shaping the ball a fraction away from them. Perhaps the biggest clue will come from Ben Hilfenhaus and Ryan Harris, both of whom can swing the new ball. If they fail to get any real movement then the chances are that Johnson will not either.

This England team's problem in Perth was a mental issue rather than a technical one – it was a complacency issue

When I was England's coach, one of the biggest difficulties I had was making sure the team kept their foot to the pedal. Strange as it seems, the occasions when I used to get most nervous about how well England would perform followed on from their best wins. So often, in my early years in charge, they would veer from highs to lows in the space of a match or two. One good result and then, bang, the team would crash. This England side have the same problem. We saw it at Headingley in 2009, at Johannesburg in 2010, and now we have seen it at Perth.

• Interactive guide to all the Ashes venues
• Sign up now for our weekly email The Spin
• How to stay awake during the Tests
• Follow our daily blog throughout the Ashes
• The latest news and comment on our Ashes site

Australia played well, and Mike Hussey in particular deserves huge credit. His was a display of true Aussie grit. But which team made the bigger turnaround in that match? Was it Australia? They only made 268 and 309. You are not going to win too many Tests with that kind of score in the first innings. Or was it England? They collapsed twice in the space of under 100 overs. For me the answer is obvious. They lost because they were not able to repeat the ruthlessness they showed in the first two Tests. We have known for a long time that England can capsize when they are batting. And not just on faster, bouncier pitches like the ones we saw at Perth and Johannesburg.

The key period of the match was the hour before lunch on the second day, when Mitchell Johnson took four wickets for seven runs in four overs. Johnson's work with Troy Cooley has obviously paid off. He started to swing the ball back in to the right-handed batsmen. But England's middle-order should have had the technique to be able to cope. They face swing bowling all the time in England, and it is often said that one of the reasons their batting averages tend to be lower than those of other Test nations is that they play their home games in conditions that offer bowlers seam and swing.

During his spell late on the first day Johnson was moving the ball away from the two left-handers, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook. As soon as England spotted that, word should have gone around the dressing room: "Hold on boys, this is what he is doing with the ball." The team should have immediately started thinking about how to adjust. But they did not seem to be able to switch to plan B. Instead they got stuck like rabbits in headlights.

This was a mental failure more than a technical one. It was a complacency issue. Which is not to say that they were so naive they that took victory for granted. But after winning so well in the second Test they were not able to stay sharp for the third. They needed to keep their finger on the pulse for every single moment of this match. They did it in Adelaide but not in Perth.

As I say, this is a familiar problem. I used to wonder if England suffered from a "cup final" mentality. They were under such pressure from the media that players would celebrate victories as though they were cup final wins. Do that and it becomes very difficult to isolate the next match from what has come before it. You have to make sure you are entirely focussed on replicating the approach that won you that game in the first place.

A great example of a team who did this well were the All Blacks under Sean Fitzpatrick in the 1990s. If they were playing a top team and they won a penalty in the first 15 minutes, they would put it through the posts. If they won three penalties in the first 15 minutes, they would put them all through the posts. If they were playing a weaker team the next week, they would do exactly the same thing.

Other sides would take those three points in a match against New Zealand but if they found themselves in the same scenario against a weaker team they would suddenly decide to kick for the corner or try to run the ball. That inconsistency meant they might win one week, but they would only scrape home the next.

For two years, between early 2004 and late 2005, the England team got it right. They were almost unbeatable. Michael Vaughan made sure that the team's mind-set stayed the same no matter who we played. But we had a lot of self-driven characters in that side. It is not an easy thing to instil in a team. There is only so much the management can do. They can help provide the glue, but they still need to have the right parts in place.

How did Adelaide's world-beaters turn into such a shambles in Perth and what must they do to re-establish supremacy?

Build pressure with the ball by bowling as a unit

The Australian seamers made sure that the pressure was never off the England batsmen. Although Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris took all but two of the wickets between them, Ben Hilfenhaus conceded barely two runs per over from 31 overs, bowling dry as they call it. After an initial poor spell Jimmy Anderson improved and Chris Tremlett was excellent throughout. But Steve Finn conceded almost a run a ball. England's whole bowling strategy for this series has been based on incisive use of the new ball and disciplined attritional bowling thereafter. For Melbourne they will need to get back to that approach.

• Interactive guide to all the Ashes venues
• Sign up now for our weekly email The Spin
• How to stay awake during the Tests
• Follow our daily blog throughout the Ashes
• The latest news and comment on our Ashes site

Remember the comebacks

However dominant Australia were at the Waca, England, as Ashes holders, still have the upper hand. The series is level with two to play. England's capacity to recover from defeat or near defeat has been considerable in the four years since the infamous whitewash. It is something Australia learned last year after Cardiff, when England went on to win the next match at Lord's; after the massive defeat at Headingley when they won at The Oval; and after a calamitous start in Brisbane this time, from which they recovered, and then went on to win by an innings at Adelaide. Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss are level-headed individuals and know that fortunes can be turned. England have not become a poor team in the space of a week.

Change the batting order

It is obvious that Ian Bell is now a considerable international batsman and the best technician in the side. As such, England will be asking themselves whether he makes his runs because he bats at six or whether, as a player of real stature, he is not being wasted. The form of Paul Collingwood, who, batting at five, averages around 15 in the dozen innings since he made a hundred in Chittagong, is linked to this for in effect Bell has been batting at five already. A case has even been made for him to move to four with Kevin Pietersen, also suspect early on against a moving ball, dropping one place. Whether or not Collingwood retains his place (and his catching is a huge factor as is the lack of cricket for the reserve batsman, Eoin Morgan), Bell must now be better utilised so that he does not run out of partners as he did in Perth.

Neutralise Mr Cricket but absorb the lesson of his batting

A little more than a month ago Mike Hussey was fighting for his international life, saved only by a second-innings hundred for his state just prior to selection for the first Test. Since then he has made more than 500 runs in the series, including two centuries and three half-centuries, which with his hundred at The Oval last year means he is the only batsman in Ashes history to make six successive scores in excess of 50. He has become the stabilising influence in an otherwise under-performing Australian top order. His batting at the Waca, a ground he knows intimately, was sublime, based on discretion outside off-stump and on the bounce, a punchy cover drive, a voracious pull and the push for a single. England need to bowl tight to him. He is playing England at the game that served them so well in the first two Tests.

Do not go chasing the ball

Did Mitchell Johnson really have a clue when he was going to swing the ball? The indications, from watching the scrambled seam as he delivered, are that it was more down to atmospherics and the condition of the ball. The test will come when he has to repeat it. But it is the uncertain element that will cause problems for England now. Hitherto the batsmen have been able to play him as a bowler who just slants the ball across the right-hander. Now they have been undone by in-swing, there will be a natural tendency to want to play at deliveries that until now have been left. So whether or not he swings another ball in the series, he will have created doubt. England, if they are to prosper, cannot go chasing the ball.

The Ashes are staying in England unless Australia can pull off one of the great turnarounds, following a disastrous first session of the third Test at The WACA.

Limping to lunch at 4-65, the situation could be hardly be worse as Ricky Ponting's side chase a series-equalling victory with a risky four-man pace attack.

Trailing 1-0 and needing to defeat England at least twice in the final three Tests, Australia must win in Perth to keep their hopes alive, as there is little chance of a draw on this lively pitch.

Once again veteran Mike Hussey is being relied upon to anchor the innings, and he is unbeaten on 28 (including four boundaries and a six) with Steve Smith (5) the other not out batsman leading a revival after the side were 4-36.
A spectacular reflex catch removed Ponting for just 12 runs.

Paul Collingwood, at third slip, pulled off a magnificent diving, one-handed catch off James Anderson's bowling to pile more pressure on the Australian captain, who is now averaging 20.50 from his five innings in this series.

It was an unnecessary stroke to a wider ball from Ponting, who struck three boundaries in his 10-ball innings.

Phillip Hughes was bowled by new England paceman Chris Tremlett for two in just the second over of the day after Andrew Strauss won the toss and sent Australia in. Tremlett taunted Hughes with short balls before a full and straight delivery knocked off the bails after the youngster played around the ball.

Michael Clarke also played a poor shot to lose his wicket for four, prodding at a wider ball from Tremlett that caught the edge and was accepted by wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

Tremlett rewarded selectors who chose him ahead of Tim Bresnan to replace the injured Stuart Broad, after Bresnan had been tipped to play in this game because of his steady workrate.

Shane Watson was next to fall when trapped lbw by a Steve Finn yorker. He appealed the decision, the second time in his innings of 13, by umpire Billy Doctrove but replays showed the ball was clearly in line and going to hit off-stump.

On just the fifth ball of the day Watson was ruled caught behind off James Anderson by Doctrove but successfully overturned the decision on appeal. Replays showed the ball deflected off his hip. Watson was given another lifeline moments later on two when Strauss dropped him off Anderson, albeit off a difficult chance. Watson slashed at the ball but got a top edge, and Strauss leapt with his left arm high but could not prevent the ball from ricocheting off his palm.

Australia's huge gamble of playing four fast bowlers in the crucial game meant rookie spinner Michael Beer was overlooked.

The move became all the more ominous when Strauss elected to bowl first, meaning that Australia's pacemen will get to use the Perth pitch when it has flattened out.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting conceded he would have also bowled first had he won the toss.

Given Watson's ability to offer an extra seam option the decision to include all of Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle in the attack is a shock.

Curator Cameron Sutherland expressed surprise at the decision not to include Beer, while former captain Mark Taylor said "Australia have missed a trick here by not picking Michael Beer".

Sutherland has predicted cracking in the pitch late in the game which would be advantageous to spinners.

Beer, who was a bolter after just five first-class games, must now be in doubt to make his debut in this series given a major reason for his selection in the 12-man squad was his familiarity of The WACA pitch and the bounce he could generate on this deck. Ponting consulted selectors Greg Chappell and David Boon before the warm-up and then returned to the team huddle and told Beer he would not be making his debut.

Australia decided to play four specialist quicks in the fourth Test of last year's Ashes series in Headingley where the pitch was extremely fast, and defeated England inside three days. However, they stuck with the same attack for the decider at The Oval and came undone on a track that offered turn. After that result captain Ricky Ponting, coach Tim Nielsen and chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch admitted to misreading the pitch and erring in not including a specialist spinner - at that time Nathan Hauritz.

Andy Flower's men are on the threshold of Ashes glory in Perth but expect embattled Australia to come back strongly

This really is a massive game of cricket. Win it, and England have the Ashes job done with the prospect of a dominance not seen since Australian cricketing austerity times of the late 70s. A draw even, and Australia would need to come back remarkably strongly in the final two Tests, knowing that Sydney is the ground that would favour England's swing and seam above all the others. An Australian win, though, would throw a panther among the black swans in the park: MCG, all to play for, teams level, Australia in the ascendant. Now that would be a challenge.

• Interactive guide to all the Ashes venues
• Sign up now for our weekly email The Spin
• How to stay awake during the Tests
• Follow our daily blog throughout the Ashes
• The latest news and comment on our Ashes site

Before the series started, the consensus was that the sides were well matched, and that things would be decided by one team seizing the critical moments when they were on offer. This would be like fencers looking for an opening and then striking for a hit. In Brisbane, Australia had England on the run for three days but could not finish the job, since when they have not had a look-in. Adelaide could not have been more perfect had Andy Flower written his gameplan on a piece of paper, posted it to Father Christmas and got it in his stocking on Christmas morning. He craves improvement on that only in terms of consistency, citing in particular the manner in which his batsmen were able to repeat the heroics in successive matches.

But there has been a break in Melbourne since then, as if to draw a line under the first part of the series, and the fear is that it will be Australia who will gain most from the interim period, like a canvased boxer saved by the bell who has had time to recover senses and come out for the next round.

England have had things on which to ponder. The team dynamic has changed: Stuart Broad will be in a commentary box rather than on the field; Jimmy Anderson has flown home and back again in the space of 48 hours which means even with the flat-bed comfort and sleeping pills, he will need a rapid recovery; and the families are in town now, the laddish togetherness that has bound them through the first part of the tour a transient thing from here on in.

Flower's insistence on keeping partners out of the way until now was carefully thought out, debated, and disagreed with in some quarters, but has served them well. Now his work will be to ensure that the relief that comes with reuniting families does not in itself prove a distraction and a hindrance. The team are on the threshold of greatness in the English pantheon and cannot be allowed to blow it away in familial joy.

The pitch will hold the key. This, as has been stressed many times, is not the Waca of old. The accolade of the fastest, bounciest pitch in the world has passed to Old Trafford in recent years. Instead, not helped by commercial imperatives that see no future in games that last three days rather than five, the pitches have been restrained. Yesterday, 48 hours before the game starts, this wicket, on a redeveloped part of the square and used only twice before, including the West Indies Test last year, was far from finished, a light green strip set in a dark green square. The mower will surely be out before tomorrow, although the blades will not be set too low, and a further day under 30C heat will harden it up more than it already is. The colour promises more than it delivers. It will crack but Waca cracks have solid edges and do not lead to erratic behaviour: it will last and even get better. Once the new ball goes, there is some hard graft in store for the bowlers.

It will lead to confusion in the ranks. The Australians are feigning organisation (Mitchell Johnson was omitted from the Adelaide Test as part of a rotation policy apparently, which would be fine had he not been replaced by an overweight, unfit bowler blowing out of his backside by the end) but seem to have anything but. Calls for all their four pace bowlers to play at the expense of the prospective debutant, Michael Beer, surely are far-fetched: they have a back-up fourth seamer in Shane Watson, while the leg-spin of Steve Smith is jaunty but naive and was savaged by Ian Bell in Hobart.

Instead they will probably play a young spinner, who conceded runs at about five an over when playing against England here earlier in the tour and, having watched the experience of Xavier Doherty, would require a temperament approaching absolute zero if he is not to have his heart in his mouth when he bowls his first over.

Of Johnson there is little to add to the clamour that has filled the papers here, most of it condemnatory towards the idea that he can simply bring a damaged game straight into a match without trying out in a game first. A deal of biomechanical twaddle has been spoken about his problems but the last thing a fast bowler wants, intelligent or otherwise, is to have thoughts in his head other than those directed exclusively towards creating havoc at the other end: stand tall, arm up, hips clear, follow through. With a blank canvas he can be devastating, but head filled inappropriately and you have free runs.

In the England camp, there seems to be a leaning away from including Tim Bresnan in favour of Chris Tremlett although that means one of Anderson, Steve Finn and he would have to open the bowling into the wind – a strong wind at times – and hold that end while Graeme Swann is not doing so. Tremlett's bounce and control are his greatest assets, but he needs to be clear that the length he must bowl is still the one which hits the top of off-stump. Of all the grounds, this is still the one that best feeds the Australian strengths square of the wicket, as bowlers can get excited by seeing the ball hit the gloves high and pitch too short.

This will not be another Adelaide. Australia, disarray or not, will come back strongly. But there is resilience now in the England team. A personal view is that far from flagging, Anderson will double his effort and prosper, and bowl England to victory and the Ashes.

• Surrey's Chris Adams wants Tremlett to replace Stuart Broad
• Craig White thinks Yorkshire's Tim Bresnan to step in

The unfortunate injury to Stuart Broad that marred England's triumph in Adelaide has sparked a reassuringly old-fashioned north-south skirmish over who should take his place in the team for the third Test in Perth.

Chris Adams, the Surrey cricket manager, is bullish in pressing the claims of Chris Tremlett, the third generation of a famous cricketing family whose father Tim and grandfather Maurice gave stalwart service to Hampshire and Somerset respectively. But from the frozen north, the former England all-rounder Craig White – Bendigo-raised, but now ensconced in snowy Scarborough – argues that Tim Bresnan, the burly rugby league loving seamer from Castleford, would be a much better bet.

• Interactive guide to all the Ashes venues
• Sign up now for our weekly email The Spin
• How to stay awake during the Tests
• Follow our daily blog throughout the Ashes
• The latest news and comment on our Ashes site

"Everyone seems to be going for Tremlett, but I would have thought him and [Steven] Finn are quite similar," said White, now part of the Yorkshire coaching staff who therefore concedes a bias towards both Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad, the 25-year-old from Bradford who is the third man in contention.

"I'd back either Bressie or Ajmal to perform well in Perth, because they've both got decent pace and they can both bat a bit too, which is important when they're going to be replacing Broad. But at the moment I think I'd go for Tim, because he's got a bit more experience and control.

"One thing to remember about Perth as well as the pace and bounce that people talk about is the Fremantle Doctor that blows down the ground. That means you're going to be looking for one of your seamers to bowl quite a few overs into the wind when someone like James Anderson is bowling with it, and Bressie would be perfect for that.

"He's one of those blokes who doesn't complain, just gets on with the job. I'm not sure you could say that about Tremlett – I was pretty surprised that he even made the squad for Australia to be honest, because it's such a tough place to bowl with the pitches so hard, especially when you've got to expect to be out in the field for at least a day and a half. Bressie's a strong lad and over the last year or so he's been playing the best cricket of his career. He's never let England down when he's played for them,and I reckon he deserves a decent run in the side."

Down at The Oval, Adams politely begged to differ. "English cricket is in such a good place at the moment that it wouldn't worry me if we went into the next Test with any of the three in contention coming in for Broad," said the former Sussex captain. "But biased as I am, I'd definitely go for Chris. When the selectors were meeting towards the end of the season and looking towards the winter, I was asked frequently by all of them about Chris's form.

"One of the things I said at the time was if you want a bowler to come straight in for Perth, then Chris is your man. He's got great attributes for the sort of wicket which you expect to see there. He'll hit the right length and he gets just enough extra bounce to trouble the batsmen – as if the Australian batsmen didn't have enough problems as it is.

"He had such a good season for us that I'd back him to bowl well in any of the Tests out there – it's just that this Perth one could be perfect for him. Those wickets he took in the warm-up game in Hobart were another good sign. He's primed and ready for selection."

Adams argues that Tremlett did enough in his first season after joining Surrey from Hampshire to assuage the doubts over his attitude and durability to which White alludes. "He's 29 now, he'd been at Hampshire a long time and when you've grown up somewhere you can become part of the fixtures and fittings," he added. "Perhaps you can start to feel a bit safe and the club can start to feel a bit too safe with you.

"Moving to us has been a challenge for him because we wanted him to lead our attack, and he's responded brilliantly to that, probably beyond both our expectations and his as well."

Adams is therefore "100%" confident in Tremlett's ability to pull his weight as one of a three-man seam attack, and sees only positives in his physical similarity to Finn. "I wouldn't mind being similar to Steven Finn at the moment," said the former England batsman. "He just keeps coming in and bowling with skills way beyond his years. Chris has obviously been around a bit longer, but he proved through the county season that he can bowl sustained spells. He's had a couple of weeks since taking those wickets in Hobart to make sure he's ready for this sort of chance, and I reckon he's ready to take it."

Australia bolster their seam bowling options ahead of the second Ashes Test in Adelaide following the drawn opener with England in Brisbane.

#8 Ohio State 10-1, 6-1 Big Ten Roster | Schedule

November 27, 2010 12:00 PM ET - ABC —— Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH

Michigan 7-4, 3-4 Big Ten Roster | Schedule

Rich Rodriguez brings his third Wolverine squad into Ohio Stadium Saturday for the 107th matchup between two of the more storied programs in college football history. Hired as an innovative break from the old guard, the beleaguered coach actually has a potent offense this year.

The offense, led by dynamic sophomore Denard Robinson (#16), is averaging over 514 yards per game, good enough for 5th in the nation. The high point was a 721 yard effort against Bowling Green in week four and the 676 yards they put up in the overtime thriller against Illinois earlier this month. Further illustrating the potency of the group, it has put up over 400 yards rushing and passing in different games, depending on what the opposing defense is willing to give up.

Oh, but that defense. GERG's Tickle Bear Crew is 112th in the nation in yards allowed, giving up 445 per game.  Compare that to a great, but not elite Ohio State defense giving up just 241 a game. The putrid defense is a great reason why Robinson will likely not be returning as the DC and just about every team the Wolverines have played have been able to exploit it.  If Michigan's defense was capable of playing at a level anywhere near where the offense currently does, it would be a very dangerous team.  But alas, it doesn't.

To his credit, Rodriguez does finally appear to "get" the rivalry, saying all of the right things at his presser earlier this week.  This game may not be vital to him keeping his job -- the seven wins likely bought him another year -- but upsetting the Buckeyes in Columbus tomorrow would be quite the icing on a third year cake that's seen improvement both in morale and on the scoreboard for the Wolverines.

For Ohio State, a win would likely capture a sixth-straight conference title, matching Woody's run from 1972-77 and would also likely earn Tressel an 8th BCS bowl berth in just his 10th season in town. Like all games in this series, it will be intense, chippy and will be the hardest hitting team either will play this season.  As we learned so well during the Cooper era, you can throw out the records and previous results when the two get together.

 

Opponent

Robinson, clearly the MVP of this Michigan team has had a wonderful season. As much as it pains me to admit that, there's really no other way around it.  He's already eclipsed the FBS mark for rushing yards by a quarterback in a season with 1,528 (and counting) and he's also the first FBS quarterback to pass and run for over 1,500 yards in the same year.  Small and explosive, he's capable of hitting a seam and taking it to the house on every touch, but, as his numbers indicate, he's a much better passer than you'd think. He's almost good enough to excuse him for saying his defense was the "one of the best defenses in the nation", but not quite.

Robinson's size and style do sometimes lead to him being sidelined after solid hits and should that happen Saturday (and there's a great chance it will), our old friend Tate Forcier (#5) will make an appearance.  Despite obvious struggles against the Buckeyes last year, Forcier still played with heart and at times, moved the ball. Probably a better pure passer than Robinson, Forcier has completed nearly 67% of his throws in various relief efforts this season.

The receiving corps is led by redshirt soph Roy Roundtree (#12).  Roundtree has had a couple of really impressive games this season, most notably the 9 catches for 246 yards he put up against the Illini.  For the season, he's piled up 58 receptions for 839 yards and will be Robinson's primary target both in the pocket and when the pocket breaks down and Denard is forced to improvise.  Complimenting Roundtree are Darryl Stonum (#22) and Junior Hemingway (#21).  Both are nursing injuries, but are expected to play. Tight end Kevin Koger (#86) will get some balls, but not enough to warrant serious attention as a threat.

Robinson is the alpha and omega with regards to the team's rushing attack, accounting for over half of the team's yards, but Vincent Smith (#2) and Michael Shaw (#20) will get touches as well.  Smith will get the bulk of the leftover carries, but enters nursing a head injury. The sophomore enters averaging 4.7 per carry, but does not get enough touches to be a factor in the Wolverine offense.

The Wolverine offensive line is decent and thanks to Robinson's elusiveness, looks better on paper than it probably is. Left guard Stephen Schilling (#52), a four-year starter, is the anchor of the group and is good enough to play just about anywhere. Right tackle Mark Huyge (#72), a redshirt junior, will have his hands full with Heyward and Williams, as will left tackle Taylor Lewan (#77).

Are you ready to discuss the Wolverine defense? The group has been nothing short of a disappointment for Robinson (though some would put the blame on the DC), appearing in the bottom 20% of virtually every major defensive category.  The group has held just one opponent, lowly Purdue, under 20 points and gave up 37 to UMass, 35 to Indiana, 38 to Iowa, 41 to Penn State under McGloin, 65 to Illinois and 48 just last week to Wisconsin. Life without Brandon Graham has not treated Michigan well, to say the least.

Playing in a 3-3-5 that was surely concocted after a night of huffing paint, the unit features exactly one player that is capable of disrupting things, tackle Mike Martin (#68). Linebacker Jonas Mouton (#8) has a boat load of tackles (102), but the majority of those are a function of situations, not elite athleticism.

As bad as the front six are, the back five are likely even worse.  The star of the group is a former walk-on, Jordan Kovacs (#32). It's not often you see a defensive back closing in on 100 tackles, but that's exactly what you get with this defense. Also notable in the secondary is James Rogers (#18), who has made headlines twice in recent weeks by first guaranteeing Wisconsin wouldn't drop 83 on the Wolverines and then by taking a shot at Chris Spielman over Twitter.

Buckeye Breakdown

The Buckeyes emerged with a hard-fought win at Iowa City last weekend and have now won four straight after dropping a tough night loss at Camp Randall. With the Big Ten title and a BCS berth still on the line, there's still plenty to play for and even if there were not, it's hard to imagine the team not being ready for this game.

Tressel had the team skip Iowa game film as they began preparing for the Wolverines immediately after returning to Columbus and that usually means there will be a slick play or two in the works.  He always saves something great for Michigan and this year will be no different.  Will it be Dane making another throw, something special from Pryor to Posey early or something else?  Or will the recently quiet Brandon Saine, playing for his last chance to win Gold Pants, give us a treat?  That's about the extend of the suspense in this one as the good guys enter as nearly 18 point favorites. Whatever happens, expect the receivers to bounce back from a relatively awful performance in Iowa City that saw them drop 8 passes.

For the 25 seniors playing their last home game, including standouts like Barclay, Boren, Browning, Chekwa, Heyward, Hines, Homan, Larimore, Rolle, Saine, Sanzenbacher and Torrence, Saturday will be a great opportunity to go out with a bang and hopefully make their mark on this series.

Beating the Wolverines is simple, really: find a way to slow Denard Robinson. Good defenses have been able to do it (see Iowa and Wisconsin), but lesser units have been trampled by the sophomore. While this Buckeye defense isn't the best we've seen in the Tressel era, it's plenty good enough to slow down Robinson.  Expect Brian Rolle, who had a monster game against Michigan in Ann Arbor last year to spy the quarterback with some help from Ross Homan.

The offense will move the ball all day and Saturday will be a great opportunity for the group to cure whatever ails it before taking on a considerably more talented defense in a bowl game. Michigan will move the ball as well, but won't have enough to outpace the Buckeyes, especially at home.

Ohio State 41, Michigan 21

Clarke cleared to play Ashes, Bollinger omitted Stuff.co.nz Siddle hasn't played Test cricket since January due to a stress fracture in his back but Ponting is a huge fan of his no-holds-barred seam bowling which ... Public image could hurt heir apparent: ChappellSydney Morning Herald all 13 news articles »

The tourists must get on top of their nerves if they are to take their chance of winning at The Gabba

There are two very nervous teams in Brisbane right now. But it is when you drive to the ground on the first morning of the match that the stress of the Ashes really starts to show. As I remember it no one seemed too worried in the team meeting on the evening before the first Test in 2006. It was only when we were on the bus that it became clear how anxious the players were feeling. The atmosphere was so quiet. Nerves affect different people in different ways. Most players tend to go into their shells, though the odd one or two will become perky and try to crack jokes to lift the mood. What is obvious is that people are not being themselves.

• Interactive guide to all the Ashes venues
• Sign up now for our weekly email The Spin
• How to stay awake during the Tests
• Follow our daily blog throughout the Ashes

Of course everyone remembers Steve Harmison's opening delivery in that series, which was a wide that went straight to second slip. But that ball has obscured just how nervous Australia were in that first half hour as well. Justin Langer just went ballistic and started hitting the ball through slip and over gully. They were shots he would never normally play. Langer hit four fours off Harmison's first two overs, but three of them went to third man. Matthew Hayden was also playing like a man who just wanted to get out of there. He just wanted to attack, which is not a bad policy, but on another day those catches would have gone to hand and Australia could have been two wickets down for next to nothing.

For two players with that much experience to play so nervously just shows how tense the first morning of an Ashes series can be. All cricketers will worry a little about their own performance on the morning of such a daunting match. They will be anxious not to let themselves down. Nerves are natural for a player in that situation. What England want to avoid is fear. That is something quite different. Fear is a collective apprehension that you might be about to be humiliated. Teams can be taken over by it.

The big advantage England have this time is that everyone in the squad is fit, which means that they have a settled team. That was obvious when they chose to send their Test bowling attack up to Brisbane last week rather than play them against Australia A in Hobart. On previous Ashes tours we had so many injuries that we were not even sure who was going to pitch up and bowl on the first morning. Australia, on the other hand, would always know exactly what their best attack was. This time Australia are fretting over the fitness of their players on the eve of the match. Uncertainty over whether a major player like Michael Clarke will be fit or not can unsettle the team, particularly when the guy waiting in the wings, Usman Khawaja, has never played a Test match.

Another factor that will work for England is that for the first time in a long time they will start a Test at Brisbane with a bowling attack that is at least as experienced as Australia's, especially now that it looks like Xavier Doherty will make his debut. He is lucky that he is not playing his first match at Adelaide or Perth, where the pitches are more likely to take spin. At Brisbane Doherty's job should just be to hold up an end. It will be slightly different for Graeme Swann. He will have a bigger role to play because whereas Australia have Shane Watson, England do not have a genuine fourth seam bowler to take some of the overs.

Watching how the Australians play Swann's first spell is going to be one of the most fascinating parts of this Test. It will give a strong indication of how they are feeling, of whether they are just battling nerves or even if a little fear has crept into the camp. If they panic and go after him straight away, that will suggest that there is some desperation in the team. If they are in a confident mood, they should just see him off and know that they will have chances to attack him later on.

England should also have learned the lessons of history when it comes to the toss. Brisbane can be a confusing wicket to read. If you just pitched up there and had a look at it you might see that it is green and rock hard and think "let's have a bowl on here first". Of course that was what Nasser Hussain did in 2002. I backed Nasser on that decision. It tallied with all the information we had got as well. I remember we spoke to Matthew Elliott after the game, and he said that when he had played at Brisbane with Victoria they had won the toss and been unsure about whether to bowl first too. England now know better.

So England have a great opportunity to kickstart their Ashes and make a little history. But they have to be careful. When I wrote last week that this was the most muddled Australia side in 30 years I was comparing them to some of the best teams the country has ever had. This team are not that good, but will still be very competitive. And I think they will enjoy being slight underdogs. And whatever everyone else says they will not be worrying about losing another Ashes series. They will just be concentrating on winning this match.

• Ian Bell scores majestic 192
• Tim Bresnan takes three wickets
• Read the full scorecard from Hobart here

Tim Bresnan put himself on a hat-trick and ended up with three wickets as England followed Ian Bell's supreme batting with some handy bowling on the third day of their tour match against Australia A.

The upshot, after Bell had made a superb 192 from 275 balls and Bresnan had taken his match figures to five for 90, was a second-innings home total of 128 for three. That left Australia A needing 293 to make England bat again on the final day tomorrow.

Bell's performance was indisputably the main event – described by Australia A opener Phil Hughes as "awesome" – but Bresnan took his chance to show what he can do too, operating as part of a back-up seam attack in the absence of the four bowlers expected to play in next week's first Test and already in Brisbane to prepare early.

After ending an opening stand of 66 between Hughes (58no) and Ed Cowan when the latter dragged a pull on to his stumps, he had No3 Usman Khawaja edging behind first ball and then bowled Callum Ferguson with one that kept low.

His second two victims were named this week in Australia's 17-man squad for the Gabba – but after two failures each in this final Ashes warm-up match, are in danger of missing the cut.

Bresnan made it clear he takes no account of the reputations or aspirations of batsmen. "I'm obviously pleased to get wickets - but I don't think it matters who they are," he said.

Bresnan had to settle for two first-innings wickets while his fellow pace bowlers Chris Tremlett and Ajmal Shahzad shared seven.

• Shahzad and Tremlett make most of green pitch
• Australia's Test batsmen struggle in state matches

All things considered it was not a bad day for England but it could have been a whole lot better, Australia A recovering from 118 for six to make 230 and then collecting the wicket of Andrew Strauss in the few remaining overs as he sliced a drive to gully.

With the Test match bowlers decamping to Brisbane to acclimatise, the dirt-track attack took the opportunity to show that they too could play a part should they be called upon, bulldozing their way, on a skittish first-day pitch, through a top order of young guns with an eye on the baggy green. Meanwhile, in the state games, those batsmen who will almost certainly keep them out of the first Test in Brisbane were making such a hash of things that the top seven, minus Michael Clarke, a martyr still to his back problem, managed to amass 41 runs between them. Mike Hussey, feeling the axeman's breath on his neck, made an excruciating 18 ball duck.

And if that was not enough to gladden English hearts already beating strongly from early preparation that has run as clinically as the Swiss railway system, then there was the sight of Monty Panesar flying through the midwicket air to pluck a stunning one handed catch from the air. At this point, those watching pinched themselves, just in case it was all a dream, and Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne were just warming up.

Sometimes it can all go just too swimmingly however and what satisfaction there might have been after play needed to be tempered with the realisation that England had let things slip as Australia A fought back in robust fashion during the afternoon. With the ball softer and challenged by Tim Paine and Steve Smith, a pair on the fringes of selection, and then by Stephen O'Keefe, a young left-arm spinner, the seam bowlers broke ranks, abandoned their disciplines and began to pay the price, banging the ball into the middle of the pitch so that Smith and O'Keefe were able to carved their way, rustically on occasions, but effectively for all that, to half centuries. In a Test match situation, that would just not be acceptable. Allowing Australian batsman the freedom to play cross-bat shots, for which they are constantly searching, is a bear trap into which many have fallen. David Saker, had he been there, would have had his post-match say on the matter.

Given the green tinge to the pitch, and the groundsman's insistence that there would be pace and carry to match that which they may find at the Gabba, it was a toss that Strauss was no doubt keen to win and duly he did. So there was an early chance for the three pace men in particular to show that each was capable of going straight into the Test side should the situation demand it. There was bound to be some rust there however, for all the practice in the world is no substitute for middle competition. They were short of a gallop and initially it manifested itself in the waywardness of Chris Tremlett, who appears to have problems of line to left handers, and the tentative manner in which Ajmal Shahzad, given the new ball rather than Tim Bresnan, felt his way into the tour.

They had been given a pitch that required only the notorious 'good areas' and the ball would do its work on behalf of the bowler with little encouragement. As Tremlett, having removed Phil Hughes, found his line, so too did Shahzad crank up his pace: survival was fingernail-clinging. Neither of the two young batsmen thought to be top of the queue eventually to replace the aging Australian top order, were able to make a compelling case for early inclusion with Bresnan, occasionally wayward, turning Callum Ferguson inside out, and Shahzad snaring Usman Khawaja, offering him an unendearing send-off in the process.

Out of the day emerged Shahzad. He was not the top wicket-taker – that accolade went to Tremlett who took his fourth with the first delivery of the second new ball – but he was the best bowler, running in with enthusiasm and generating considerable slippery pace. Towards the end of the innings, there were also signs of the reverse swing which first brought him to the attention of the England selectors. The notion that he might be an option for the second Test in Adelaide, where bounce of a kind displayed by the tall men – Steven Finn, Stuart Broad and Tremlett – is less important than the capacity to bowl wicket-to-wicket in pursuit of bowled or lbw, especially as the match and therefore the pitch, wears on, is by no means a fanciful one. Why he was not named in the original squad is a mystery but he flew out with the team anyway, and the chances are that he won't be leaving them now.

Largely unnoticed went the bowling of Panesar, but until Smith and O'Keefe aimed a few lusty blows at him, he managed an excellent job in backing up the seamers, a template for the sort of role that Graeme Swann will be expected to do in the early stages of the Tests. Quite how important was his catch, an instinctive effort, is hard to gauge but had he not held it, opprobrium inevitably would have been heaped on him. But he took it superbly and his confidence will have blossomed. That he then went in as nightwatchman on Strauss's dismissal, and did the job admirably, put the lid on a buoyant return for him to the fold.

Australia's destroyer of so many England batting line-ups delivers his 10 predictions for the Ashes

1 It will be another Australia whitewash

I'm still going with the 5-0. I can't really say anything else now, I guess I've dug a bit of a hole for myself, but I've got total faith in our boys. It should be a good series. The games should all be relatively close, with Australia just getting home in every Test.

2 The youngsters will come good

I am happy with the selectors right now. They've gone for a 17-man squad. I'm not sure they've ever done that before in a home series, but if you're a young cricketer in Australia it must be a pretty exciting time. If you do well you can start putting your hand up for the Australian team. I think there's a good mix there.

3 Ricky Ponting will hold it all together

I believe, 100%, Ricky Ponting should still be captain of this team. With those young players you need someone of Rick's experience. I don't think they really could have done anything else. I've got huge of respect for Ricky as a person and as a captain. He will always be a quality batsman. I thought he'd retire as the top run scorer of all time, although Sachin [Tendulkar] may now have put that beyond him.

4 The ball means the Aussie attack will have the edge

It's very close between the two seam attacks. If the series was in England you would favour the England attack. But in Australia the wickets don't quite do as much and you can give me a Dukes ball to bowl with any day. The Dukes favours the bowlers whereas the Kookaburra favours the batsmen. The Dukes has a big seam on it. It might swing as it gets older, while the Kookaburra will start off swinging and go soft. I averaged six wickets a Test with it, and four with the Kookaburra. In the past, English bowlers haven't adjusted and that's been the big difference. It might be this time, too.

5 England's McGrath-like seamers still have to prove themselves …

By McGrath-like I guess you mean they try to bore people to death. I've been impressed by both Broad and Finn. Broad has definitely shown that he's a quality bowler. I haven't seen a lot of Finn, but I'm really looking forward to seeing how he goes over here. Both these guys have impressed me, especially Broady. Jimmy [Anderson] is interesting. He's a great bowler. You've seen what he can do on English wickets. But he's not done it over here. To me, that will be the test.

6 … and they'll struggle to bowl like I did over here

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to keep it simple. The two weapons I had were accuracy and bounce. I could land the ball where I wanted. I don't really know where that accuracy came from. I put plenty of hours in the nets but it was always the feel to me, rather than looking at a spot on the wicket. I only looked at getting a batsman out in three ways: bowled, lbw or caught by the keeper or slips. And because of my accuracy I always had the fielders there. I didn't need extra guys on the leg side or at cover in case I bowled a half-volley. I wanted those guys catching.

7 Strauss will be the key wicket

The captain was always the guy we went for, so Straussy would be a big one. The two openers are really big targets. And I always enjoyed bowling to Belly. I always felt I had a chance there. KP was a thorn in our side, but he's very much a confidence player and he hasn't done that much of late so maybe you'd look at him, too. But the key is the two openers. If they fall early, Australia can really make inroads and expose that middle order.

8 Johnson is pivotal for Australia

Mitchell Johnson is a wicket-taker so you want him to be as aggressive as possible opening the bowling. You can build pressure with Ben Hilfenhaus, who will swing the ball, but Johnson is the main threat. I'd also go with Dougie Bollinger, who I've been very impressed with in Australian conditions. It'll be interesting to see if they give Xavier Doherty an opportunity. I always liked to have a spinner but it's pretty easy to say that when that spinner is Shane Warne.

9 Reports of Australia's decline are exaggerated

For my generation it was an incredible era to be involved in Australian cricket. There were so many great players. As a bowler you only had to look at your slip cordon and see Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh, Mark Taylor and all those guys. But I think Australia have done pretty well since then. When teams lose one or two major players it has a huge effect on them. Australia lost six or seven major players, guys who played 100-plus Test matches, and yet it's not so long ago they were winning 13 Tests in a row.

10 No one over here will underestimate England

I always had respect for the England teams we played against. The last thing you can do is think they're rubbish cricketers and it's going to be a walkover. But we had a decent team and we felt if we played as well as we could then no one would get near us.

Glenn McGrath will be part of Sky Sports' team for live and high definition coverage of the Ashes tour from 11pm on Wednesday 24 November on Sky Sports HD1. Go to www.skysports.com/ashesanywhere

• England pacemen get to grips with Australian Test ball
• Bowlers head straight to Brisbane for extra practice

England's Ashes pace attack are heading for Queensland ahead of schedule tomorrow to acclimatise for the first Test at The Gabba and undergo an intensive training routine intended to ensure that the bowlers can make the Kookaburra ball swing.

England's Australian-born bowling coach, David Saker, is convinced that superior swing bowling can be the key to victory in Brisbane, but only if the pace-bowling trio – Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Steve Finn – conquer their mistrust of Australia's Kookaburra, which is presumed to swing much less than the Dukes ball used in Tests played in England.

Saker believes that England's inability to swing the ball on the last Ashes tour here, which Australia won 5-0, could be partially attributed to the composition of the pace attack with Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison, in particular, both being primarily back-of-a-length bowlers seeking to hit the deck hard rather than swing the ball on a regular basis. If England's preferred pace trio for Brisbane can learn to love the Kookaburra anywhere it is in the hot and humid conditions at The Gabba where swing bowling can have a more decisive effect than at any Australian Test ground.

But first they must wave aside the pessimism in English cricket about the swinging properties of the Kookaburra, which is deemed to have a less prominent seam than the Dukes ball and a softer leather, assessments with which the manufacturers disagree.

"Jimmy Anderson is the best swing bowler in the world and we have bowlers on this tour who seek to swing the ball more than the likes of Flintoff and Harmison, excellent bowlers as they were," Saker said. "I'm sure we can make the Kookaburra swing."

England's decision to allow their intended Ashes attack to skip the game against Australia A in Hobart beginning tomorrow has been strongly debated. The match will be televised live in Australia by Channel 9, who will not be best pleased by England's decision, but the match has also been devalued by Cricket Australia's premature selection yesterday of an Ashes squad of 17 for Brisbane that includes only two members of the A team, a marketing-led decision that has not found favour with all of Australia's selection committee.

Andy Flower, England's coach, said of England's decision to rush their fast bowlers to Brisbane: "I personally don't think it is radical. I think it is logical. It was part of our planning for the tour and I'm surprised it's been talked about so much. Queensland is hot and humid and this will give our guys a head start in getting used to the conditions."

Tim Southee, a New Zealand swing bowler, has taken only 28 wickets in 10 Tests at an average of more than 40 runs each, but his four for 63 at The Gabba gave Australia a scare two years ago before they went on to win the match.

England believe that the ball will not swing in Brisbane alone but also in the following two Ashes Tests in Perth, where the Fremantle Doctor – the cooling afternoon sea breeze – gives bowlers hope at the WACA, and at the Adelaide Oval, where Ajmal Shahzad could even come into consideration even though he is not officially a member of the tour party.

Graeme Swann will also make an early exit to Brisbane, leaving England's bowling against Australia A in Hobart in the hands of understudies: Chris Tremlett, the Yorkshire pair of Tim Bresnan and Shahzad and the slow left-arm of Monty Panesar.

The advantages are not quite so marked for Swann, an off-spinner, but it keeps the bowling quartet together and, as a big turner of the ball, he will benefit from getting used to bowling with sweaty hands. He also feels that he has had enough match practice after two four-wicket hauls against Western Australia and Victoria.

Flower says that the Hobart understudies will not feel devalued. "They are all aware of the pecking order but I am almost certain that one or two of them will be playing soon because our bowling attack is unlikely to be the same for all five Tests," he said.

Certainly, the entire squad seems supportive of the policy. Broad dismissed any suggestions of an us and them mentality. "Not at all," he said. "We're in this together – team spirit is right. Everyone on this tour has been at the stage where they're not playing, carrying drinks, always looking to better yourself as a cricketer and get into the team. That makes training intense. When you're not playing, it's tough but you're fighting hard to get into the team. We only have three extra days in Brisbane but they'll be vital to us."

Vic Marks, page 7

The fabled ball will not swing as much as James Anderson might like but England have the ability to take wickets with it

It is possible to become paranoid about the Kookaburra ball. It is round, it is red and it has a seam, just like the Dukes ball, which is used in England. So what's all the fuss about?

Well, England tend to defeat Australia when they can get the ball to swing more than their opponents. Certainly that was the case in 2005 when the reverse swing of Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones caused a surprising amount of panic even among the most senior of the Australian batsmen. And at Lord's in 2009 it was the swing bowling of Jimmy Anderson and Graham Onions that was the crucial factor in Australia's paltry first innings total, the catalyst for their defeat.

The ability to make the ball move either in the air or off the pitch is fundamental for wicket-takers. Therefore there may be a psychological barrier for England's pacemen to overcome when playing in Australia, where movement is harder to find. When the ball refuses to move in the air swing bowlers feel naked, as vulnerable as an assassin without bullets.

So we can understand why Anderson may be apprehensive about the damned Kookaburra. He might not instinctively "love" this type of ball though it sounds as if David Saker, England's bowling coach, is about to do his best to spark a passionate affair in steamy Brisbane.

Saker may have a bit of work to do. Anderson famously averaged 82 for his five wickets on the last Ashes tour, but he is a different cricketer now – "the best swing bowler in the world" according to his latest bowling coach, who would like Anderson's confidence to be high this week.

If you have been paying attention to the Ashes build-up, the properties of the Kookaburra should be familiar now. It tends to lose its shine more quickly than the Dukes ball and its seam is less prominent. It rarely swings for as long as its English cousin. Therefore it is imperative that the opening bowlers use it effectively in their first spell because there may be a barren period of minimal movement once 20 overs have been bowled.

England – and Australia for that matter – have to make the most of those first 20 overs. So it makes sense for their first-choice pacemen to head off early to Brisbane to grow accustomed to the sweaty palms that the extra humidity brings. Often that humidity brings extra swing as well. Anderson and co will be conducting their experiments for a whole week before the first Test. But they will not be overhauling their methods.

Bowling in Australia with a Kookaburra is not so different to propelling a Duke in England. The same principles must be followed while there remains the same necessity for the bowlers and their captain to be streetwise and flexible. If the ball is swinging a slightly fuller length is required; if not an adjustment must be made rapidly before the ball has been driven frequently to the pickets. That applies in Birmingham as well as Brisbane.

There will, as Saker declares, be periods of play when the Kookaburra ball will swing in Australia but they are unlikely to last as long as they do in England. In Brisbane the humidity may help. In Adelaide the dryness of the surface may prompt more reverse swing when the ball becomes expertly scuffed, which is why the possibility of Ajmal Shahzad being employed there has been highlighted. In Perth the sea breeze known as the Fremantle Doctor can sometimes be an ally. Its direction, as constant as the rising sun, abets the away-swing bowler from the pavilion end.

Saker is better placed than most to pass on these snippets of information to a pace attack that has minimal experience of Australia (only Anderson has played a Test Down Under). That is all the bowling coach needs to do this week: to convince his young attack that they can take wickets in the harsher environs of Australia without their beloved wine-dark Duke and its seam as proud as a new father. The signs are that they are starting to believe that already.

The Hindu

Cricket's new pace queens Indian Express Bowling round the wicket, the ball seam staying as upright as the stark pair of stripes on her red cricket shirt, Mei Chunhua managed just enough late ... Cricket and karate retained for IncheonTimes of India It's not all about wickets and tea breaks: cricket gains some attention in ChinaThe Canadian Press Cricket may win reprieve for 2014 Asian GamesAFP Yahoo! Eurosport UK -Hindustan Times -Jakarta Post all 69 news articles »

New Zealand have reverted to type as they rely on a seam-based bowling attack for the second cricket test against India starting in Hyderabad today (5pm NZ time).

• Former Test batsman presses for left-hander Usman Khawaja
• Andrew Strauss is linchpin in England's batting, says Waugh

Mike Hussey is the most striking name on a list of four batsmen who will start the Ashes series with their places under threat, according to the former Australia strokemaker Mark Waugh – who is also worried by the form of Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Hauritz, two members of the Australia attack.

Hussey has been a fixture in the middle order since making his debut in 2005, and still averages more than 50. But he has made only two centuries in his past 28 Tests – one of them in the team that conceded the Ashes at The Oval 14 months ago when his place was last the subject of similar conjecture – and Waugh has joined his former Australia team-mate Michael Slater in urging the selectors to promote a younger man.

He is also unconvinced by Marcus North, but he believes that a greater depth in bowling makes Australia narrow favourites for a tight series, especially against an England batting line-up in which Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood are weak links. South Australia's Callum Ferguson is generally thought to be the next in line should Hussey or North struggle early in the series.

Waugh has been pressing the case of Usman Khawaja, a 23-year-old New South Wales left-hander who was born in Islamabad and could become the first Muslim to play for Australia, since he hit a double century in a Sheffield Shield match in Adelaide last month. "He's a very talented up‑and‑coming player, and why not strike when the iron's hot?" said Waugh.

"Michael Hussey is a very good player with an excellent record, but for the last couple of years in Test cricket he's only been averaging 30. He likes to occupy the crease rather than score at the moment. I think the selectors will go with him and Marcus North in the first Test, but there are some young guys like Khawaja and maybe Callum Ferguson who could come into the reckoning."

Waugh believes that England's batting is generally more vulnerable than Australia's, with the scratchy recent form of Cook and Collingwood leaving them dangerously reliant on Andrew Strauss. "There are a few little question marks about their batting line-up. A few players will be under pressure ... Collingwood and Cook have been a bit out of touch. A lot is going to depend on Strauss and how he holds things together at the top."

Despite claiming that Australia have a stronger bowling attack, Waugh concedes that Johnson and Hauritz have been anything but impressive. "Johnson's not been bowling particularly well, very similar to when they went to England last year. He can't get that seam straight and although he still gets wickets he does leak a few runs. He's under the microscope, that's for sure, and he's going to have to bowl better than he has for the last few months.

"The guy I would like to see come into the team is Jason Krejza. I know he's not got a lot of wickets for Tasmania, but he bowled well in India a couple of years ago, and he's more of a wicket-taking off-spinner than Nathan Hauritz. I think Hauritz will start but I've got a big question mark on whether he can get the wickets than can win you a Test match."

Sky Sports' live and high‑definition coverage of the Ashes tour this winter begins at 11pm on Wednesday 24 November on Sky Sports HD1. Go to www.skysports.com/ashesanywhere

Tasmania struggled with good seam bowling and tough conditions to be 4 for 120 at stumps on the first day of its Sheffield Shield match against Queensland.

Tasmania struggled with good seam bowling and tough conditions to be 4 for 120 at stumps on the first day of its Sheffield Shield match against Queensland.

For all his background – born in Melbourne and played for Victoria – he is fine-tuning England's fast brigade now

If England overturn history by retaining the Ashes in Australia over the coming couple of months, winning a series there for the first time in 23 years, it will be down in no small part to the success of the pace‑bowling collective.

They are a good bunch, eminently successful over the past season but in conducive conditions. By contrast their collective experience of Australia at this sort of level is limited to a humiliation for Jimmy Anderson four years ago – at a time when he was not given the new ball and had submitted himself to meddlesome and ultimately disastrous tinkering with his action – and three one-day internationals on the same trip for a scrawny Chris Tremlett during which he managed a single wicket. For knowing and understanding local conditions it is hardly reassuring.

So the role to be played by the pace bowlers' coach and mentor, David Saker, is vital. That he is Australian, born in Melbourne, may have been coincidental when he was appointed last April to succeed Ottis Gibson. But then perhaps it was not. Andy Flower would have seen his record as a bowling coach at Victoria (quite by chance three of those who came through under his tutelage, Peter Siddle, John Hastings and Clint McKay, were playing yesterday for Australia in a T20 against Sri Lanka even as England practised up the road) and with Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League.

Flower will know, too, of his previous reputation as a bustling, indefatigable fast‑medium bowler for Victoria and then Tasmania. In addition, though, England's team director will have recognised someone whose knowledge of Australian batsmen and the ground conditions would be as intimate, if not more so, as any coach's outside the Australian inner circle.

Signing someone of Saker's credentials was a coup, his Australian knowledge a massive bonus, his desire for the job evident in the way he paid his own way to England for an interview rather than use a conference call. Equally evident was his subsequent delight in living here. He is an anglophile, his family enthusiastically absorbed into life, close to Stratford-upon-Avon and Flower. He loves his pubs, English ale and cricket chatter.

A transfer of allegiance, especially at this time – an Australian helping England retain the Ashes in Australia – was never a stumbling block. He sang God Save The Queen, he says, as lustily as anyone when England played Australia in the T20 final in Barbados, and not just for show. He is one of the England team in the strongest sense.

At the time he signed up his knowledge of the England bowlers, he admits, was less certain and a little clouded: watching from afar he was not sure of their pedigree when he joined the squad for their successful tilt at the World T20 title. "I suppose a lot of the time watching on TV I would pay attention more when they were going badly," he said after going through some fine tuning with a few of his bowlers at Loughborough last week. "So I kind of focused more on those days when they weren't playing well. I totally came in to this set-up with the thought 'are they that good?'"

It is a revealing picture of how the England set-up is viewed from a distance. Joining the squad changed that perception. "Straight away on that Caribbean tour I was blown away by how professional they were and how hard they worked at their game. They surprised me enormously. And it definitely surprised me that their skill levels were as high as they were. I think that is a credit to Andy Flower and 18 months on from when he started we are still going forward with an absolutely clear idea of where we are and where we want to be."

There is an analogy, much loved by the pacemen, who see their role as the scrum while the batsmen are the fancy-dan backs. Successful pace‑bowling teams operated as packs, a bond between them, united in what they do. Saker sees his role as augmenting that camaraderie, adding to the sum of their knowledge rather than concentrating on the pure mechanics of bowling.

"Coaching at the level I'm at now involves being able to get bowlers to think about the game tactically," he said. "How do I get 20 wickets in a game? It is my job to help them think that way collectively. They are skilled bowlers already so they don't need to do the biomechanical stuff so much. So most of the time it's let's have a good look at the opposition, let's have a good look at the players we are up against and then let's come up with the tactics to negate them.

"I see a bowling coach as way more than the old-fashioned view of a bloke with a video camera on the players' actions. That is a way from what I am, couldn't be further. There are times where you might need to do that but most of the time it is about building a really good relationship with the five or six I have in the group and tactically taking the opposition apart.

"All I try and do is stimulate their brains so they really think about who they are actually playing against. But it is still up to them once they are out in the middle in a Test. It is a hard place to survive and they have to do it themselves. They can't rely on the bowling coach in a room to come up with everything. So it's not about changing things, it's about trying to help them think a lot clearer about the opposition and where they are playing.

"The scrum is a good analogy," he conceded. "Sometimes fast bowling can seem easy but generally we know it is extremely hard graft. As a bowling coach I want to be comfortable that they can come to me with any ideas, while I can give them as many ideas as I can – even session by session. We talk a lot during lunch and tea breaks and we do change according to circumstance or the condition of the pitch and state of the game. A certain batsman might be in control, so how do we deal with that?

"Even through a session I might go down to third man or fine-leg and suggest how we might change something. The majority of our meetings would be 50% coming from me and 50% from the players. As a swing bowler, Jimmy Anderson would have a different idea from Stuart Broad about dismissing a batsman but by no means are our ideas set in stone. Not having played at the level they are at, my observations come from watching players play and from video. The best information I find comes from when we play against people and see how they react.

"But our guys are pretty good at getting away from inflexible plans and thinking on their feet. We adapt to conditions really well and are getting better. They know the value of that for, unless they can adapt quickly or have an enormous skill, they won't survive. They are going to have to be immensely disciplined if we are going to win the series. You can't go searching for wickets against Australian teams.

"You have to be disciplined, set in certain ways to get certain players out. It might not be your turn in a certain spell but, if you keep persevering and staying in the game, I think that is the key for the whole series, especially against this opposition. You have to hang in there, hang in there, and there will be a time in every Test match where an opportunity will open up to win the game. Then it is a question of taking it."

Three talents Saker helped to mould

Clint McKay, age 27
Saker and colleagues turned a club bowler into an international. After taking several wickets for Essendon in 2006 an injury crisis earned a chance in the Victoria team, where he soon earned a state contract. McKay, right, a controlled bowler in the Glenn McGrath mould, asked Saker to help with his away swinger. They worked hard on using his pace intelligently and with subtlety. 'I'm not fast enough to scare people out, so you've just got to try and wear them down a little bit,' he said. Saker also added the well-disguised slower ball to his armoury. McKay took 33 wickets at 21.42 as Victoria won the Sheffield Shield in 2008-09 and during his Test debut against West Indies last year captain Ricky Ponting said, "I was really impressed with how composed he was under pressure, and how well he was able to execute his skills."

John Hastings, 24
When Hastings failed to make the New South Wales first team in 2007 Victoria called him and asked if he wanted to try his luck with Saker and Co in Melbourne. Three years' hard work culminated last month in his one-day international debut in India. They shaped a canny bowler who relies on outsmarting batsmen with variation rather than out and out pace, and tried more recently to get more swing. Saker got him bowling consistently enough to take 36 Sheffield Shield wickets at 26.13 last season. Like Saker himself he is a more than handy batsman which, with his strong death bowling, led to an international call due to what Australia's chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, said was 'exciting all-round skills for Twenty20'.

Peter Siddle, 25
Siddle was in Victoria's rookie stable when Saker joined in 2004 but had just undergone a shoulder reconstruction. When, in 2006-07, he won a full contract Saker hoped that by 2009 he would be Victoria's strike weapon. He did better: in 2008 he made his Test debut against India. Saker helped hone the ability to keep landing the ball on the same spotoutside off-stump, with seam movement in either direction, and channelled his natural aggression into banging the ball in hard to make life difficult for batsmen. 'He is always hitting the splice of the bat,' said Mark Boucher admiringly. Saker also honed Siddle's bouncer – and he bowled one for his first delivery in Test cricket, striking Gautam Gambhir on the helmet. 'Peter leads when he's got the ball in his hand,' Saker said approvingly.

At Victoria he shaped the careers of three Australian bowlers who played in today's T20 international against Sri Lanka

Clint McKay Age 27

Saker and colleagues turned a club bowler into an international. After taking several wickets for Essendon in 2006 an injury crisis earned a chance in the Victoria team, where he soon earned a state contract. McKay, right, a controlled bowler in the Glenn McGrath mould, asked Saker to help with his away swinger. They worked hard on using his pace intelligently and with subtlety. 'I'm not fast enough to scare people out, so you've just got to try and wear them down a little bit,' he said. Saker also added the well-disguised slower ball to his armoury. McKay took 33 wickets at 21.42 as Victoria won the Sheffield Shield in 2008-09 and during his Test debut against West Indies last year captain Ricky Ponting said, "I was really impressed with how composed he was under pressure, and how well he was able to execute his skills."

John Hastings 24

When Hastings failed to make the New South Wales first team in 2007 Victoria called him and asked if he wanted to try his luck with Saker and Co in Melbourne. Three years' hard work culminated last month in his one-day international debut in India. They shaped a canny bowler who relies on outsmarting batsmen with variation rather than out and out pace, and tried more recently to get more swing. Saker got him bowling consistently enough to take 36 Sheffield Shield wickets at 26.13 last season. Like Saker himself he is a more than handy batsman which, with his strong death bowling, led to an international call due to what Australia's chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, said was 'exciting all-round skills for Twenty20'.

Peter Siddle 25

Siddle was in Victoria's rookie stable when Saker joined in 2004 but had just undergone a shoulder reconstruction. When, in 2006-07, he won a full contract Saker hoped that by 2009 he would be Victoria's strike weapon. He did better: in 2008 he made his Test debut against India. Saker helped hone the ability to keep landing the ball on the same spotoutside off-stump, with seam movement in either direction, and channelled his natural aggression into banging the ball in hard to make life difficult for batsmen. 'He is always hitting the splice of the bat,' said Mark Boucher admiringly. Saker also honed Siddle's bouncer – and he bowled one for his first delivery in Test cricket, striking Gautam Gambhir on the helmet. 'Peter leads when he's got the ball in his hand,' Saker said approvingly.

The grave of one of England's finest bowlers is in danger of sliding into oblivion in Sussex, the county he served so well

A Sussex country churchyard in October: the leaves on the trees are turning golden, in the distant Wealden valley autumnal mist is beginning to rise, crows are cawing overhead, sheep are bleating in a nearby field and I am standing in front of the dilapidated grave of one of England's greatest cricketers.

It is overgrown with weeds, subsiding, the whole grave lurching down the slope, but the name is still just visible: Maurice William Tate. Almost as an afterthought it adds: Sussex and England cricketer.

Maurice Tate played his last Test 75 years ago and you would have to be about 80 to remember him bowling in a first-class match. There was a time in the 1920s when he was England's finest bowler and one of its most thrilling batsmen: a mightier cricketer, perhaps, than Freddie Flintoff. Now his neglected grave is caving in: barely two feet wide, it seems too small to contain him.

At least Tate's name is still visible in Wisden. When James Anderson, Stuart Broad and the latest crop of England bowlers fly to Australia next week they will find Tate's individual haul of 38 wickets in the 1924-25 series way beyond them. No Englishman has since taken as many in an Ashes series in Australia and probably never will.

Tate was a big man, maybe 15 stone, with broad shoulders and huge feet: a real Sussex yeoman. Photographs show a ruddy, smiling face, slicked hair parted in the middle, a pipe stuck firmly in his mouth. His father Fred had played one disastrous Test for England against Australia at Old Trafford in 1902, dropped a vital catch and, last man in, was bowled three runs short of victory. On the train going home he sobbed to a team-mate: "I've got a little kid at home there who'll make it up for me."

And Maurice did. Starting for Sussex as an off-break bowler before the first world war, his career did not really get under way for nearly a decade and he was thinking of giving up bowling when one day in 1922 he bowled a few faster balls in the nets to his captain, Arthur Gilligan, and knocked over his stumps. Gilligan – a fast bowler himself – was looking for someone to open the bowling at the other end and ordered Tate to keep it up.

Within weeks he was taking hatfuls of wickets – eight against Kent, four against Essex, six for 30 against Middlesex – and within two seasons he and Gilligan were bowling South Africa all out for 30 in 48 minutes in his first Test.

No Test cricketer has changed his bowling style so dramatically at the age of 27. He has claims to have invented modern seam bowling. Off eight paces he was extremely sharp, making the ball swerve and cut away late, and immaculately accurate: you do not get 2,500 wickets at 18.12 over 15 years by luck. Jack Hobbs said he was one of the greatest bowlers of all time, Donald Bradman that he was magnificent.

In 14 seasons his lowest wicket tally was 99 (he was injured for the last month) and his highest was, incredibly, 228 in 1925, a season in which he bowled nearly 1,600 overs – for comparison, this year no bowler managed more than 600 overs and none got more than 68 wickets.

The wickets just kept coming. Here is a fortnight in May 1925: 14 for 58 against Glamorgan, bowling unchanged, eight for 105 in 54 overs against Middlesex, the next day in Bristol, bowling through both innings, 12 for 94, then Glamorgan again, 13 for 87. No wonder he reached 100 wickets by 25 June that year. Throughout his career nearly 60% of his victims were bowled or leg-before.

The previous winter Tate had carried England's bowling in Australia, taking those 38 wickets in four and a half Tests. His captain, Gilligan, said it could have been 58 but for dropped catches and turned down appeals. There were few easy Tests in those days and most of his dismissals were top-order batsmen.

He missed most of one Test, a match England narrowly lost, after his big toe-nail was ripped off as he stamped down on the hard ground in his action, leaving his toe infected, but he was back playing the next Test a week later. In that series alone he bowled 470 overs – a third of England's total, enough to make Anderson or Broad feel faint.

Tate was no mean batsman either, scoring fast and lustily for Sussex and England, with 23 hundreds in his career and a top score of 203. He often opened the innings for Sussex, straight after bowling and he usually scored in those pre-limited overs days at a run a minute: four of his county hundreds came in under 80 minutes.

Then there was his geniality. At Hove local boys would follow him to the ground, knowing he would get them in free. He only complained when the members called him Tate, as a professional. "My name's Maurice, or Mr Tate," he'd say. During a baking hot Test in Australia, he was seen to say something to the Australian batsman Bert Oldfield after a series of appeals had been turned down. The Australian press accused him of abuse. Summoned by the manager to explain, Tate struggled to recall what he had said, then remembered: "Bloody hot, ain't it Bert? I could do with a cuppa ..."

In the middle of the 1937 season the Sussex committee called him in and told him they no longer required his services. He retired to keep a series of pubs, the last of them The Greyhound in Wadhurst. In 1956, to make ends meet, he took a job coaching at Butlin's in Clacton, came home to the pub at the end of his first week complaining of a cold, went to bed and died of a heart attack, aged 60. He is buried in the nearby churchyard behind the medieval parish church.

Down at the county ground in Hove they have the Tate Gates. A local bus is named after him. But it seems a shame that his neglected, weed-covered, lonely grave is in danger of sliding into oblivion in the county he served so well.

Going into the final Twenty20 in Kimberley, South Africa look good to wrap up the series with their superior batting, but they'll be wary of the lack of depth in their seam attack. Zimbabwe's major worry is their bowling.

Morgan's inner strength under extreme pressure will make him a key man for England during a tough series in Australia

England are about to head off on a team-building camp. I am not sure they need it. You cannot have a better team‑bonding exercise than what they have been through in the one-day series against Pakistan. These have been tough times for the side but they will be stronger because of the way they have come through them.

The pressure England put on themselves to win that fifth one-day international would have been huge. If they had lost the series to a team who have been widely accused of spot-fixing they would have looked ridiculous and the allegations made against Pakistan would have been undermined, whether they are right or wrong. England deserve a lot of credit for refusing to let that happen.

The key man was Eoin Morgan, who once again showed just how good he is at performing under extreme pressure. This carries neatly on to yesterday's announcement of the Ashes squad. For me it is critical that England find a way to get Morgan into the team – not just the squad – for the first Test. He should bat at No6.

If England are going to fit Morgan in, obviously someone else will have to make way. The men to look at here are the No2 and No3 in the order, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott. I think Cook should be the man who is dropped. I have written before about the qualities Cook brings to the team apart from his ability as a batsman. The management clearly like him as a character and see him as a good influence on the team. But the runs Trott has scored in international cricket since he came into the team outweigh those criteria. On top of that the one major concern I would have about the English batting is their propensity for sudden collapses. They have not managed to shake off this habit, as we saw again and again in both the recent Test and one-day series. Trott, like Morgan, seems to be a cool player in a crisis, with a steady temperament and an ability to handle pressure.

Also, if Trott moves up to open, then England will have a right-hand/left-hand combination at the top of the order, which is always preferable because of the disruption it causes to the lines of the opening bowlers. Ian Bell would then play at No3, Kevin Pietersen at 4, Paul Collingwood at 5, Morgan at 6 and Matt Prior at No7.

That is assuming that England stick with their four-man attack. I still doubt that this is the right approach to take, although playing a fifth bowler would probably mean that Morgan would miss out on selection, with Prior moving up to No6. As I have said right through this year, I do not think that England are going to be able to knock over Australia as they have sides in England when the ball is swinging. In Australia the ball will not swing so much, which is going to reduce the effectiveness of James Anderson. That means the team will have to bowl more overs. In that situation they will look to Graeme Swann as their banker.

Swann is good enough to handle that and his natural confidence means that he is unlikely to be bothered that he has not played any Test cricket in Australia before now. But you also have to allow for the fact that he will be bowling with a Kookaburra ball. A lot has been said about how the Kookaburra affects fast bowlers because it does not swing so much but it can also be a challenge for spin bowlers. Swann's great strength is that he gets the ball to drift in its flight, away from the right-handers and in to the left-handers, before breaking the ball back the other way.

Drift is the same as reverse swing. An off-spinner's grip angles the seam from mid-off to fine-leg. That is the same as for an inswinger from a fast bowler. The drift moves the ball away from the right-handed batsman, against the angle of the seam. If that movement is not there, and the Kookaburra may be less conducive to it, then Swann is not going to be nearly as effective.

He faced the same difficulties last winter but the South Africans played him poorly. I imagine the Australians are likely to be better at it.

So the selectors have their share of worries. But on balance England are still in an excellent position. It is very different from the situation we faced on our last tour of Australia. This time the team are injury-free. Nine of the 11 places in the team are certainly settled, the final batsman and fast bowler being the exceptions. And perhaps most importantly, they are playing what must be the weakest Australian side since the early 1980s.

Few were surprised when Geoff Miller announced the XVI to try and retain the Ashes, with only places in the bowling attack under debate

In the end everyone was close to getting the squad right. Central contracts, continuity of selection and continuing success, with only three Test matches lost in 23 games since the watershed defeat in Kingston that marked the start of Andy Flower's influence, pretty much saw to that.

There have been plenty laying down markers in county cricket – and such is the flux there, with four of 18 sides swapping divisions each year, that the difference in standard is scarcely as wide as some like to believe – and they have been noted. Some have been awarded places in the Performance squad which will shadow the main party up until the third Test, so providing not just emergency replacements but genuine match-fit contenders.

The surprise comes only in the selection of both Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett rather than either-or, at the expense of the exciting young Yorkshireman Ajmal Shahzad. There is even a logic to this, though, in that Tremlett offers height, pace and accuracy (and the prospect of England fielding a trio of pacemen in excess of 6ft 5in), while Bresnan, bowling's Ronseal, would be thoroughly reliable and mentally capable of coming into the side at very short notice.

He can reverse‑swing the ball, as he showed in Bangladesh, although it seems unlikely that he would become a serious match-winner. However, Australian batsmen who have talked about him this summer speak of someone who hits the bat harder than expected and that is not to be ignored.

Shahzad, meanwhile, will be with the party in the pre-Test preparations and is certainly not to be discounted as a genuine starter for, say, Adelaide with his capacity to swing the ball both ways. The thinking within this management is by no means set in stone.

The return of Tremlett to the top level has been rapid, a direct function of his move to Surrey – who claim to have helped him grow up – and to the England bowling coach David Saker who, unencumbered by gossip and hearsay about temperament and fragility, has seen only what he regards as an excellent Test match prospect.

Initially he would be regarded as an understudy to Stuart Broad and Steve Finn, as a like-for-like, but, if Jimmy Anderson was making no impact, for example, then Tremlett, like Shahzad, could very much come into contention. Certainly England believe (and once more Saker's advice, based on his years of experience as player and coach in Australia, is important to this) that, if movement in the air and off the seam is to be discounted once the Kookaburra goes soft after 15 to 20 overs, then beyond searing pace allied to reverse swing it is extra bounce that is the danger.

Each of Finn, Broad and Tremlett has a high arm in delivery, which helps take one variable – line – out of the equation. All three would be capable of bowling an attacking line and length or attritionally, as the situation demands.

To this commentator there was never an issue regarding the selection of Monty Panesar. It is astounding how quickly people, spoiled by the remarkable rise of Graeme Swann, have forgotten how good he has been for England. A bowler who offers nothing but defence, as his detractors like to say, does not get eight five-wicket Test hauls – more, it is worth repeating, than any post-war England spinner except Underwood, Lock, Laker and Swann himself.

Towards the end of his time at Northampton Panesaar suffered greatly from a cabal of South Africans who, according to anecdotal evidence from Afrikaans-speaking opposition batsmen, mocked him in a language he did not understand.

The national selector, Geoff Miller, is right when he says that Panesaar's move to Sussex and his deliberate sidelining from England for the summer have not just reinvigorated his game but, with a lot of help from a variety of sources, and, paradoxically, given his county tribulations, beginning at Highveld Lions in South Africa last winter, brought him out as a person.

A confident Panesar, one who can set his own fields and contribute to the debate rather than be just deferential to the sort of authority which let him down with his fields (was there ever a more crass decision than for Andrew Flintoff to offer Adam Gilchrist the option of hitting him down a strong wind in Perth? Would Swann have stood for that?) will be a boon.

That said, his primary role will be to come into the side as the single spinner, one of proven international pedigree, should anything happen to Swann, a job of which neither James Tredwell nor most certainly Adil Rashid would be capable.

Key to Panesaar's bowling for Sussex has been his capacity to wear batsmen down, applying the pressure to score. He should not forget either that he is the only England bowler in the squad who has tasted any success in Australia, with his five wickets in Perth.

The move to keep Rashid away from the Performance squad, after a successful summer with Yorkshire with both the ball and bat, is unusual. Miller says that it was done in consultation with Yorkshire, the consensus being that he will be better for the break. That hardly seems encouraging and one suspects a sub-plot.

There is, however, a Lions tour to the Caribbean scheduled for the new year and he can confidently expect to be included on that.

Monty Panesar has rediscovered his form this summer and ought to be England's second spinner in Australia

In his seminal book The Art of Captaincy, Mike Brearley describes the process of selecting Test and touring parties. It involved a convenient venue for the captain, usually Lord's for Brearley, who notes there was "wine, beer and juice available, and salads and cheese laid out on a trolley. We would rarely be interrupted and we would stay until we had finished the job".

How times have changed. There were no central contracts in Brearley's day, of course, so things were less clear cut – in fact it is doubtful whether some selectors even got to see much cricket. Now there is a full-time national selector in Geoff Miller, who heads up a panel including James Whitaker and Ashley Giles. In practice this trio are facilitators, identifying players to fit within a strategy outlined by Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss who, in conjunction with the Australian-born bowling coach David Saker, pick the teams.

So there will have been no late-night meeting of any consequence this week before Thursday's announcement of the party that will defend the Ashes in Australia at the end of the year. Numerous selection discussions will have taken place over dinner, on the dressing room balcony and over the phone, but this team was all but decided several months ago.

England will take an official party of 16, but in effect this will be doubled by the performance squad that will be in Australia not just to provide players who are match-fit and can be called up in case of injury, but to give alternatives should circumstances dictate that a different type of player is needed.

However, unless there is a catastrophic absence of form during the three warm-up matches in Perth, Adelaide and Hobart we can name the 11 for the first Test in Brisbane as those who played the last Test of the summer at Lord's, with the inclusion of Ian Bell for Eoin Morgan, who will nonetheless be in the party.

That strategy for the first Test has been clear all summer and is spot on (it is the balance England should have fielded in Brisbane last time). However, for the rest of the series it will vary according to venue, pitch, weather and circumstance, as of course it should. Previous stereotyping of Australian pitches should not be taken as the norm now: Perth is no longer the fastest pitch in the world and Sydney is not the sand pit it once was. There is talk, too, of attempting to tickle pitches to suit Australia's attack and negate Graeme Swann, though this would only help England's seamers, while Swann gets wickets in all conditions.

This leaves just four places to be decided, two pace bowlers, a second spinner and a second wicketkeeper. The first seam bowling spot should go to the young Yorkshireman Ajmal Shahzad, who played against Bangladesh at Old Trafford. In his second spell in the Bangladesh first innings he reverse-swung the old ball at 90 mph and, significantly, both ways – a rarity. He is the closest England have come to reproducing what Simon Jones brought to the attack.

His inclusion will be subject to assurances that he has recovered fully from the ankle injury he suffered during the summer and which he tried to hide from management. He would also need to undergo strength and conditioning training to ensure that his pace does not drop during matches, as it did at Old Trafford. Do not discount the possibility of him playing in Adelaide, where the pitch is sure to be flat, unforgiving but above all abrasive.

The final pace-bowling place is harder to call and might demand a difficult decision. In the absence of Graeme Onions, and with Ryan Sidebottom having been told that he had no Test or one-day future beyond the occasional Twenty20 match, thus precipitating his international retirement this week, Shahzad provides swing bowling cover for Jimmy Anderson. But what of the tall bowlers, Stuart Broad and Steve Finn? It has been Tim Bresnan who has ploughed his industrious uncomplaining furrow in the squad, and made himself an integral and popular part of the one-day side. But although the Australians recognise him as someone who jars the bat hard, he doesn't fit the bill here. His one-day tendency to veer wide on the crease and slant the ball into the body becomes a handicap in Tests.

So we come to Chris Tremlett, whose move to Surrey appears to have paid dividends in terms of fitness and confidence, with 48 championship wickets at around 20 apiece. Tremlett has impressed Saker and ought to get the place.

Steve Davies made 1,000 runs and was second only to Mark Ramprakash in the Surrey averages. Add this to his one-day success for England and he is the certainty as Matt Prior's deputy. Which leaves only the second spinner. The primary consideration is who could replace Swann as a single spinner in a four-man attack? There is but one answer. Swann's extraordinary success has blinded many to the fact that Monty Panesar is a world-class spin bowler, who has 126 Test wickets with eight five-fors, more than any postwar spinner except Derek Underwood, Jim Laker, Tony Lock and Swann.

Panesar was kept out of the England system to allow him to rediscover his game at Sussex after some personal struggles at Northamptonshire and he has responded well. He will bowl tight, to properly set fields, as a back-up to the seamers. It is not a role that Adil Rashid could fill but those who champion his cause should know that if the situation demanded a second spinner as an attacking option, he could be drafted in.

Possible squad: Strauss, Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Collingwood, Morgan, Prior, Davies, Swann, Panesar, Broad, Anderson, Finn, Shahzad, Tremlett.

The bowler has retired from international cricket having made his England debut in 2001 and peaking in New Zealand in 2008

1978 15 January – born in Huddersfield to former Yorkshire player Arnie Sidebottom, who earned one Test cap for England.

1995 Tours with the England Under-17 side.

1997 Makes debut for Yorkshire.

1999 Part of an MCC side that tours Bangladesh and wins Yorkshire's NBC Denis Compton award for young player of the year.

2000 Earns first county cap for Yorkshire and goes on to finish the season as the top-ranked England-qualified bowler in the averages despite injury problems.

Is also nominated for the Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year award. Retains the White Rose county's NBC Denis Compton award.

Selected for England A tour of the West Indies, taking 16 wickets at an average of 16.81 run.

2001 Matches his father by earning a Test call-up, but despite a solid showing his left-arm seam bowling lacks penetration and he fails to take a wicket.

Is selected for two one-day internationals on England's tour of Pakistan, recording one for 42 from eight overs and the same figures from six overs.

2004 Leaves Yorkshire for Nottinghamshire, who win promotion in both forms of the game in his first season.

2005 Nottinghamshire win County Championship title for first time in 18 years.

2007 Recalled to the England squad for the first time in six years after an injury to Matthew Hoggard.

2008 Is named England's man of the series in New Zealand, taking 24 wickets to help secure a 2-1 victory.

2009 Plays final one-day international for England against New Zealand.

2010 Plays final Test for England against South Africa

20 September – announces his retirement from the international game.

England imploded under the Oval lights tonight, blown away by an irresistible spell of bowling from Umar Gul, who is widely recognised as one of the foremost one-day bowlers in world cricket.

Running in with real urgency, first from the Vauxhall End and then from the Pavilion, Gul took the wickets of Michael Yardy and Andrew Strauss, the England captain for another excellent half-century, in successive overs in his first spell, and then returned to take four more wickets for six runs in 18 balls.

That sent England, in pursuit of a modest 242, spiralling from 201 for five to 218 all out. Pakistan's 23-run win, on the ground at which barely a month ago they turned around their Test match fortune by beating England, means that the series is very much alive at 2-1, with the fourth match of five to be played at Lord's on Monday.

Gul finished with six for 42 from his 10 overs, career-best figures that brought him the man of the match award. Having disposed of Strauss, the key wicket was that of Eoin Morgan.

There was a chill in the Kennington air as evening fell and it was hard to tell if it was down to the approaching autumnal equinox or Morgan at the crease. Once again England were asking the Iceman to win them a game that they seemed intent on throwing away.

On 77 for three when he came to the crease, it the score had soon become 103 for five when Morgan was joined by Luke Wright, playing in the absence of Paul Collingwood, who succumbed to a virus during the morning. The more difficult the challenge, the more Morgan seems able to rise to the occasion. With customary calmness, and six well-placed boundaries, he reached 61, with the sixth-wicket partnership worth 98, when Shahid Afridi made what proved to be the decisive move of the match in bringing Gul back into the attack.

His first ball had no real menace – leg-stump, just short of half-volley, the sort of delivery Morgan devours with a flick of the wrist. This time the wrist flicked but lazily, sending the ball in the air to deep mid-wicket where a substitute fielder, Waham Riaz, took the catch with no small glee from fielder and bowler.

It set in train a procession. In the same over Tim Bresnan lost his off-stump to a wicked fast off-cutter, with Stuart Broad losing his middle stump in the following over. Beyond that England had no answer.

Wright battled on, eventually reaching an unbeaten 48 from 66 balls, but Graeme Swann drilled a catch straight to extra cover and Jimmy Anderson had his wicket vandalised by Abdul Razzaq to round things off with 25 balls remaining.

Wright might have been fortunate to have survived as long as he did, however. He had made 26 when he was beaten by Saeed Ajmal's doosra and overbalanced. Umar Akmal, deputising for his brother behind the stumps, whipped off the bails and appealed for a stumping, which was turned down by Billy Doctrove without referral to the third umpire.

Replays showed that not only was it worth referring but that it was very probably out as Wright's back foot left the ground at the critical moment. Afridi's subsequent entreaties to get the umpire to reconsider were predictably turned down and, not allowed as such, may get him a visit to the match referee for his trouble.

This was a match that England should have claimed, however. It was a good toss for Pakistan to have won, given the predicted conditions later on when the lights were on and the moisture descended: England certainly would have batted first given the choice.

But the bowlers, especially Anderson, then responded well, restricting Pakistan at the start, with three wickets before the first power play was done and only 31 on the board.

Anderson was superb, swinging the ball only slightly, so that it had the appearance of seam movement, but jagging it off the seam as well, all to a beautiful length and line that allowed Pakistan's batsmen no luxury off their legs and nothing off the back foot either: three for 26 in such conditions was worthy bowling.

Pakistan played patiently, though, the innings underpinned by 64 from 86 balls by Fawad Alam and 40 from 59 balls to Asad Shafiq. Two partnerships of note eventuated: one of 64 from 93 balls between these two for the fourth wicket to right the ship; and one of 60 for the sixth wicket between Alam and Afridi.

Afridi it was who for the first time in this series started to play the sort of innings that can change a match, and at the right time for his side. In particular, Swann's parsimonious figures were treated to a ragging as he belted him over the top and through the off side on his way to 34 from 29 balls.

It took a bizarre run-out to stop him. Razzaq, who himself made 31 from 24 deliveries, played a ball from Broad innocuously away to long-leg and ran the comfortable two runs on offer. Swann's throw to the bowler's end was no more than speculative but Afridi was dithering, not yet having made his ground.

The ball struck his bat and ricocheted on to the stumps with him still not having grounded his bat. He sloped from the field. It was, he admitted later, careless . . . nothing like an understatement.

• Superb century puts England 2-0 up in series
• 'All I can do is do my talking with the bat'

"Andrew Strauss, one-day cricketer" is probably not a phrase that England's captain has ever thought to emblazon on his motor but he is increasingly entitled to the description. Even a year ago few would have imagined that Strauss could organise an England run chase of this magnitude – 295 in 50 overs – with such calm authority.

As he walked out to bat, the doubters had just had their say. Michael Atherton chaired a lunchtime discussion on Sky TV with three former internationals – Darren Gough, Alec Stewart and Derek Pringle – in which Strauss did not even make their World Cup squad. Gough later backtracked with great aplomb on Twitter. "As I said in unedited version [he's a] world class captain, like to see him play more OD crik," he said. Ah yes, dodgy editing: the bane of the pundit. As well as Strauss, Jonathan Trott was also omitted from the alternative World Cup party, so it was particularly piquant that England's shunned should then combine in a judiciously paced stand of 146 in 26 overs, the bedrock of England's successful pursuitof 295.

"All I can do is do my talking with the bat," Strauss said. "Other people can talk as much as they like. It's pretty irrelevant to me. I have worked very hard to expand my one-day game. It's important that I can lead by example and I've been in good form all summer which helps because the big shots tend to come naturally. I always thought that we would get over the line even if there were a couple of wobbles along the way."

Pakistan will observe that this is all very well but that Strauss was dropped by the 7ft fast bowler, Mohammad Irfan, at leg slip on 23 and that the umpire Billy Doctrove missed a gloved catch on 38 when Umar Gul surprised the batsman with movement back off the seam and Kamran Akmal held a great diving catch to his right.

Shahid Afridi, Pakistan's captain, had both incidents on his mind. He agreed with the suggestion that the reviews system should be introduced in 50-over cricket. "It would be good, especially in a big series like this. It is important in cricket now. In Twenty20 you don't have enough time but in ODIs we can do it."

As for Irfan's miss, one of several dodgy moments in the field (not that England were much better), Afridi was scathing, implying that he might even be dropped as a consequence. "Cricket is not all about just batting and bowling," he said. "Nowadays fielding is very important. Maybe if he is good in the field maybe I will give him a chance; otherwise I am not happy."

Composure and self-belief have become a feature of England's one-day cricket. Trott could drain the heat from a hot hob with a stern expression. Here, just as at Chester-le-Street, he dealt predominantly in singles and minimal risk. The danger about many Trott one-day innings is that he cuts it so fine that, if he gets out at the wrong time, he will load pressure on those to follow. But that danger period was only fleeting.

This was the most delightful day of the summer. Pakistan's supporters turned out in force, emphasising as allegations of corruption swirl around their cricket that they have not fallen out of love with their team but that Test cricket no longer moves them.

This was how it should be. Cricket in Yorkshire now has a decidedly Pakistani flavour, not just in the county ranks where Adil Rashid and Ajmal Shahzad have won great popularity but also in the leagues where two very different cricket cultures rub along with reasonable success. Rival fans swapped jokes about deliberate no- balls as they queued at the coffee stalls and, as a Mexican wave welled up in mid-afternoon, it was only slightly fanciful to imagine it as a statement of unity against the sourer aspects of the summer.

• Derbyshire 44 & 236; Gloucestershire 156 & 70
• Derbyshire won by 54 runs

Derbyshire claimed the most improbable of championship victories by skittling Gloucestershire for 70 in the last innings of a match in which they had been bowled out for 44 on the first morning.

"In all the games of cricket I've played in and watched – and somewhere along the line that includes Botham's Ashes – I've never seen anything like it," Derbyshire's director of cricket, John Morris, said from a jubilant Bristol dressing room shortly after the victory had been completed. "To win a game when you've been bowled out for 44 – I'm not sure any of our lads have quite got their heads around it yet."

Derbyshire have never won a first-class match after making such a low first-innings total, which was their worst since they were routed for 42 by Lancashire at Buxton in 1975 on a snow-affected pitch. They began their fightback on the first day of a game that was completed in 893 legitimate deliveries and less than five sessions, restricting Gloucestershire to a first-innings lead of 112. But it was Chesney Hughes, a tall 19-year-old spinner from Anguilla who came to England to play for Fleetwood last summer, who was almost solely responsible for giving them a chance of victory.

He was left unbeaten on 96 when Derbyshire were bowled out for 236 in their second innings but Morris said: "If ever an innings deserved a century, it was Chesney's. That could get overlooked with everything else that's happened but it shouldn't be. It was a phenomenal innings for a 19-year-old to dominate a game on that wicket."

Morris said the pitch was playing far better on the second day, having been damp on the first morning when Derbyshire were bowled out in 16.1 overs after losing what seemed a crucial toss. But his players still fancied their chances of defending 124 after Hughes's morale-boosting knock and their confidence soared as Gloucestershire quickly slipped to 18 for four, with Tim Groenewald taking three of the wickets.

"The pressure went into the Gloucester dressing room and with respect they've not batted very well," Morris said. "All the way through it was obvious that, if we could get Hamish Marshall out, we'd win the game."

Marshall, the former New Zealand opener with an Irish passport, was ninth out having hit 44 out of 58, and Derbyshire completed their victory by the ridiculously comfortable margin of 54 runs. It was their first win since April, although they remain bottom of the Division Two table, with Glamorgan likely to be the main beneficiaries of the comeback as it leaves them well clear of Gloucestershire in the battle for the second promotion place behind Sussex.

Durham retained the upper hand against the Division One leaders, Nottinghamshire, although the curse that has hung over their seam attack all season struck again. Mark Davies, who had played in only four previous championship matches and failed to take a wicket in any of them, earned outstanding figures of 15-11-10-2 – but then limped off with nerve damage in his leg that will prevent him bowling in the rest of the match. Nottinghamshire finished the day on 257 for six in reply to Durham's 372.

Durham's director of cricket, Geoff Cook, also confirmed that Steve Harmison will not play again this season because of his foot problem and that the promis-ing all-rounder Ben Stokes will be out for three months with a broken bone in his foot, although Graham Onions is hoping to be given the all-clear from a London specialist this week to play some second-team cricket before the end of the season.

Wickets continued to tumble in the battle to avoid relegation from Division One at Edgbaston. Warwickshire earned a first-innings lead of 183 by dismissing Kent for 111, with their England Lions seamer Chris Woakes taking six for 52, but then slipped to 54 for eight in their second innings before Woakes underlined his all-round potential with 51 from 41 balls.

The 21-year-old followed up with the wickets of the Kent openers Rob Key and Joe Denly as they slipped to 36 for four, then returned to dismiss Geraint Jones after a fifth-wicket stand of 95 with Martin van Jaarsveld that leaves the visitors 193 runs away from a victory that might be described as highly unlikely in any other week.

Profiles of Pakistani cricketers Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Kamran Akmal

Mohammad Amir

The 18-year-old opening bowler has emerged as a great hope not just of Pakistan cricket but the future of fast bowling, a prodigy not seen in Pakistan since the emergence of his mentor, Wasim Akram, 25 years ago. Until yesterday's expose, Amir had looked set for a career as one of the sport's role models, with the potential for superstar status and huge earnings via product endorsement and contracts in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Amir's talent is beyond question: a highly skilled left-arm quick with an ability to make the ball swing in the air. During the Lord's Test that finished today , Amir became the youngest bowler to take 50 Test wickets. A schoolboy graduate of a Rawalpindi cricket academy, Amir made an impact on the international stage at the 2009 World Twenty20 in England, where his opening burst set up Pakistan's victory in the final. Earmarked for greatness in all three forms of the game, Amir's involvement in the scandal will sadden those in thrall to his talents.

Salman Butt

Given the captaincy after Shahid Afridi's bizarre single-match tenure against Australia at Lord's in July (which was followed by Afridi's retirement from Test cricket), Butt, 25, became the fifth man to lead Pakistan in Tests since January 2009. A confident opening batsman from Lahore, he impressed with his authority and magnanimity in defeat. One of Pakistan's steadier batsmen over the past year, Butt also featured in the inaugural season of the IPL before having his contract terminated and being named – along with Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar – in a lawsuit against the IPL for loss of earnings. Butt was also the likely choice to assume Pakistan's one-day captaincy from Afridi.

Mohammad Asif

A world-class opening bowler with a colourful back-catalogue of off-field trials, Asif has already been banned from cricket twice for steroid abuse. Still only 27, during his five years in international cricket Asif has tested positive for nandrolone, been detained in Dubai suspected of having recreational drugs (reportedly opium), tested positive for a banned substance during the 2008 IPL, been attacked with a bat in the dressing room by his teammate Shoaib Akhtar, and become involved in a legal dispute over a loan of 13m Pakistani rupees (£98,000) from the actor Veena Malik. In contrast to his off-field life, Asif is the most surgical of bowlers, a Glenn McGrath-like master of accurate medium-fast seam bowling. He is currently no 3 in the world and has the distinction of having dismissed Kevin Pietersen three times for a duck with the first ball he has bowled to him in an innings.

Kamran Akmal

Pakistan's wicketkeeper, vice-captain and a player who has been implicated in the anti-corruption investigation Pakistan's 2009-10 tour of Australia. An aggressive late-order batsman who scored seven international hundreds in six months in 2006, Akmal's form has dwindled. He was dropped for the second Test at Edgbaston, only to regain his spot when his replacement fractured a finger. Akmal was at the centre of ructions following the disastrous winter tour of Australia, when he dropped Mike Hussey three times during Hussey's match-winning century in Sydney.

Akmal has denied any wrongdoing. The International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit is investigating.

• Hit F5 for the latest or select the auto-refresh button below
• Pakistan embroiled in no-ball betting scandal v England
• Man arrested over on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud
• Pakistan on the brink as England show no mercy
• Email all your thoughts to barney.ronay@guardian.co.uk

33rd over: Pakistan 121-9 (Mohammed Asif 1, Umar Akmal 55) Swann continues and Akmal blocks the first four balls before driving to mid-off for a scampered single. Now he's coaching Asif mid-over on how to bat, showing him how to play a defensive shot. He does just that. The partnership is 24 from 26 balls. Clive Morris points out: "The Pakistan tests vs. Australia over here were titled the 'MCC Spirit of Cricket' series. It wasn't used for this series, which now seems very (and sadly) apt." Geh. Neil Mackie worries: "With the allegations today, I'm more concerned that this will be an additional stick that certain people will use to beat Test Cricket with. It's evidently so much easier to manufacture no balls in Tests than it would be in T20, as there are little or no repercussions from no balls in tests. The longevity of the format also allows things to be pre-ordained irrespective of required runs or the balance of the match, whereas this would (hopefully) be much more difficult in the shorter forms of the game." Not sure about that. It's not specific to Tests. ODIs have had plenty of this stuff rumbling about.

32nd over: Pakistan 120-9 (Mohammed Asif 1, Umar Akmal 54) Anderson has gone one-day here in response to Umar Akmal, bowling a couple of fizzing yorkers as Akmal looks to "clear his front leg" but can't get a good swing at the ball. He eventually digs out a single off a high full toss to leave Mohammed Asif one ball to face. He survives I think my Pakistani man of the series is either the now-injured replacement wicket-keeper, who seemed to want to win a lot, or Ramiz Raja in the Sky box, who has been great. Sean Moore mopes: "Has anyone got any suggestions as to what I can do this afternoon when this sorry affair is over, to enable me to forget about for a while. Apart from getting blind drunk, obviously."

31st over: Pakistan 117-9 (Mohammed Asif 0, Umar Akmal 53) Oh yes, that's pure talent: Umar Akmal comes down the pitch and launches Swann for a big six over cow-ish corner. That was a very easy, free-flowing hit. Then he gets to his 50 with a square slog-sweep for four that beats the man out there. 50 off 40 balls with seven fours and a six. Not exactly what Pakistan needed today, but it's all they've got and he has played with great freedom and verve. Neal Geach asks: "How can it be Salman Butt when he is alledgedly the team's ringleader in this whole sorry episode. If we overlook this then it should still be Amir as he has bowled beautifully." Yeah, I know - embittered sarcasm. I just feel particularly let down by him: all summer he has seemed genuinely frustrated by his team's performances. I've talked him up elsewhere as a potentially very good leader. And then all this.

30th over: Pakistan 103-9 (Mohammed Asif 0, Umar Akmal 39) The 100 is up for Pakistan as Akmal plays a lovely lofted drive over extra cover for four. The next ball he plays a wild, slashing attempted pull and edges it into his pad. Anderson tries to look cross, scary and also forbiddding. It doesn't work. Two ball later Akmal thrashes the ball absolutely miles up in the air over mid off and just about beats the desperate charge back by Cook. More unhappy staring by Jimmy but this is at least entertaining in a slapstick kind of way. Ant Pease yawns: "I've just woken up. Have I missed anything?"

29th over: Pakistan 98-9 (Mohammed Asif 0, Umar Akmal 34) Akmal takes a ginle and leaves Asif with one delivery to face. He blocks stoutly. Guy Hornsby sighs, along with the rest of you, "Like many previous emailers on here, this has turned overnight from one of the best Test matches I can remember in a long time to one of the saddest. It had everything, and I guess, if the allegations are proven, it really will have had everything. So many great things - Broad and Trott's partnership, Swann's fantastic bowling, but more than anything, Amir and Asif's fantastic morning on Friday." Seems quite a while ago, all that.

WICKET! Saeed Ajmal run out 8 (Pakistan 97-9) Ah - a pointless run out now. Ajmal tries to scamper a single that was never there, Broad throws the ball in from extra cover and hits the stumps. Ajmal carries on running. This is all but over. The only remaining moment of potential match-drama: Swann can still get his fifth wicket.

28th over: Pakistan 96-8 (Saeed Ajmal 8, Umar Akmal 32) Here we go. Umar Akmal Twenty20-swats Anderson's first delivery of the over for a double-bounce four over mid-on, then swipes a single to deep square leg. Anderson doesn't like it and he gives him an angry stare. Akmal is batting with - if not exactly freedom - then a kind of desperate impatience. He has 32 off 28 balls so far. Dan Holt writes: "While I'm devastated by the present allegations, I think we should be cautious about extending suspicion to all the dropped catches. Given that the fielding team can't control the number of chances that come their way, it's quite a stretch to imagine this is something worth trying to influence. Unless most England teams of the 90s were also on the take..." They might be trying to chuck the whole thing. They might just be distracted by remembering when to bowl their no-ball or whatever. We're through the looking glass people.

27th over: Pakistan 89-8 (Saeed Ajmal 7, Umar Akmal 26) Swann carries on and tosses up a beauty to Umar that turns too much, hitting him on the defensive pad and probably missing leg stump. Lovely hard-spun off-break. Umar slog-sweeps violently at the next ball and whaps Alastair Coook on the foot, the ball rolling out to deep square leg for a single. Tom England points out: "First point: being labelled 'anti-screws.' That's what my mates generally say as well. Second point: I wasn't having a pop at the NOTW's reporting, but the sight of an old, blazer wearing man in a grand old building reading the screws struck me as incongrous. I made a cheap joke about it. Sorry." Fair enough, sorry about that, just not really got past the terrible, creaking solemnity of the whole thing.

26th over: Pakistan 86-8 (Saeed Ajmal 2, Umar Akmal 24) Ajmal defends stoutly as Anderson runs the ball in to him, then edges one on the bounce to Collingwood, who stops it but seems to have stung his finger a bit. Ajmal then glances nicely as Anderson drifts one in too far and picks up four. Ajmal actually looks a lot more solid in defence than some of those higher up the order. Peter Flanagan wonders: "Who is Pakistan's man of the series now? At close last night it would have had to be one of Mohammeds Asif or Amir. Now what? Can't be a batsman surely?" Salman Butt. He has captained with an exasperated dignity.

25th over: Pakistan 82-8 (Saeed Ajmal 2, Umar Akmal 24) Swann carries on and both Akmal and Ajmal have a bit of a waft at him. He won't mind. The ball is still turning. Tom Wootton is extending a qualified olive branch with full reservations:"This is not a defence, but cricket has been peculiarly susceptible to crooked practice since it began when it was heavily betted on back in Victorian times (wonderful scene at the beginning of Flashman's Lady, as always impeccably researched). It's not new, and it's not local to Pakistan (although it's again sad that the allegations are so easy to believe). There should not be finger pointing but soul searching. Pakistan have been marginalised in so many ways, and yet they're such a wonderful cricketing nation - this should not be an excuse for further marginalisation, but for inclusiveness and help."

24th over: Pakistan 75-8 (Saeed Ajmal 1, Umar Akmal 18) Anderson continues to move the ball both in and away from the right-handed batsman. And as Nasser Hussain points out the real sadness today - in isolation - is the come down from those two greta days we've had, both of which now seem tarnished. Joe Ludlum wants a bit more levity: "Come now Rohan (16th over), let us play nice. Keith Flett has previous for blaming anyone clean-shaven for anything, and Tom was clearly cracking wise about the stereotypical Times-reading Lords geriatric. Sad day as this is for cricket, surely the OBO of all places can provide sanctuary to make the odd joke through the tears?" Yeah, maybe. Just doesn't feel that funny. My joke bag is empty this morning. Anyone got any humour to spare?

Some analysis from our man at Lord's.

"This might not be a very sensible day for Guardian readers to parade some of the knee-jerk anti News of the World sentiments already displayed on the OBO, writes David Hopps. Like it or not, if the allegations are true then it would be far wiser to put the focus entirely on the true state of Pakistan cricket and thank the NOTW for doing a service to the game.
I bought my News Of The World from a newsagent on Finchley Road, where the guy behind the counter, a Pakistani lad as it happens, was poring over the story. "These are my heroes," he said. "No-one teaches them how to behave." He said a lot of other things as well, but they cannot be printed. But that's his dream destroyed. he deserves to know the truth, whatever the truth might be.
Some more points for discussion arising from the News of the World allegations:
(i) Match-rigging, or spot-fixing, is harder than it was, but if a cricket agent who claims to be responsible for managing ten players really is involved then how can you possible stop that?
(ii) Shahid Afridi, who is returning as one-day captain, has an undamaged reputation as does the bowling coach Aqib Javed - the man who complained about match-fixing to the Qayyum Enquiry between 1998-2000, an enquiry which resulted in Salim Malik being banned for life.
(iii) The defence that the cricket betting mafia can be frightening, and that the players have reason to be cocnerned for their safety, would not be so convincing were it proved that they were actively involved in a scam with their own agewnt.
(iv) Pakistan's astonishing collapse from a winning position in the Sydney Test - a Test when Kamran Akmal missed four catches and a run out - looks ever more interesting in light of today's allegations.
(v) Can Pakistan really field some of these players in the upcoming one-day series on the principle of innocent until proven guilty?
(vi) What of the so-called Essex police investigation into spot-fixing allegations made by Essex players against Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield (since released)? What is the priority of this investigation? Slightly higher than putting it at the bottom of a drawer somewhere?
(vii) Will these allegations impact upon charities working in Pakistani flood relief? Would any players involved in spot-fixing therefore be tarnishing the image of their nation so much that they could be putting lives of the needy at risk?

23rd over: Pakistan 73-8 (Saeed Ajmal 0, Umar Akmal 11) Swann continues to find turn and Wahab looks a little out of his depth starting against this and swishing stiffly from his crease. And there we are it's a WICKET! Wahab Riaz c Pietersen b Swann 0 (Pakistan 65-7) as Wahab lofts a weak attempt at a very loose on drive straight to Pietersen. That was really a very lame appearance at the crease.

22nd over: Pakistan 72-7 (Wahab Riaz 1, Umar Akmal 10) Anderson continues, in search of some cheap mopping up scalps and Umar continues to play attacking shots, crunching a wide short on through square point for four. Like a young Robin Smith, that one, only without all the twitchy bicep flexing grrr stuff. Eoin Morgan is off: he's lost a contact lens. And Ali Shurmahi is on the full-expunge side of things: "Hi Barney, this surely is a terribly sad day for cricket. If those in question do turn out to be guilty, surely the whole series has to be expunged. Doubt lingers on in my mind about all those miss fields and especially those dropped catches. How many 1st class international teams drop that many simple catches? You have to feel for Broad and Trott especially."

21st over: Pakistan 67-7 (Wahab Riaz 1, Umar Akmal 5) Actually that was a genuinely lovely, ball-of-the-century-esque style off-break from Swann to the left-hander. What a way to get your man, pitching on middle and leg, opening the batsman up, and then turning sharply to clip the off stump. That was good enough to get even a batsman (and a proper one) who was - what shall we say - supremely motivated. Jordan Hackney says it all: "The involvement of Amir in this is obviously the saddest part of the whole affair. I remember in the days after the olympics worrying that there would be news of Usain Bolt failing a drugs test, and how disappointing that would be in light of his achievements and the subsequent affection from the public. Had it been Saeed Ajmal for example, it would have still been massively damaging but you could almost have tolerated it, Amir had been the real success for Pakistan in this series and it was exciting to think how good he might be and what records he might break."

WICKET! Mohammed Amir b Swann 0 (Pakistan 65-7) And now he can go and hide back in the pavilion again. On the up side - that was an absolutely wonderful delivery from Swann, beating the forward push on the outside and hitting off stump. A match that started with such vim and life for Amir ends with a shame-faced pair. This is hurrying along now towards a very early end. Three wickets for Swann.

20th over: Pakistan 64-6 (Mohammed Amir 1, Umar Akmal 5) Amir leaves and prods and misses at Anderson's away-nippers while some wag in the crowd shouts no-ball repeatedly (how long will this go on you wonder?). A good start for Jimmy today and these are his conditions: I reckon he'll go through Pakistan this morning.

Mohammed Amir walks out to one or two boos, but otherwise a potent silence.

WICKET! Kamran Akmal c Prior b Anderson 1 (Pakistan 64-6) It's worse now. Oh dear Kamran Akmal. 85mph, little bit of away nibble, decent line in the corridor outside off, a tame prod, a nothing shot and Prior takes a simple catch. Kamran is off in no time at all and guess who's coming out to bat now?

Pakistan, by the way, still trail by 308 runs following on. This is a proper walloping .

19th over: Pakistan 64-5 (Kamran Akmal 1, Umar Akmal 5) One lovely shot from Umar Akmal, leaping back very quick on his feet and cutting very hard for four just backward of point. He looks like he really wants to attack the spinner today - and who knows maybe one of these batsmen can go out there and just play with a kind of open-minded freedom and give us something to remember Pakistan by warmly. I'm not sure if that was a deliberate over-spinner from Swann but it's certainly very confusing for the batsman. That ball went straight on. The first one to Kamran Akmal turns viciously. David Carslake wonders:"Are there really honest punters out there who want to bet on such pointless, arcane details as when a no-ball is bowled? If I were a bookie, I'd smell a rat if anyone wanted to put money on something like that. "What do they know, that I don't"?, I'd wonder."

WICKET! Azhar Ali b Swann 12 (Pakistan 63-5) And there we go: Swann has gone for a couple of boundaries but gets Ali with a ball that goes on with the arm and he's bowled in defence playing for the spin. A very tame way to go, and now we have the Akmal brothers out there together at the end of a rocky Test tour for both.

18th over: Pakistan 56-4 (Azhar Ali 10, Umar Akmal 5) Anderson jags a couple away, bowling at 83mph and then sees Ali push an ambled couple through the covers. A bit wide from Jimmy, a bit of swing and seam but not making the batsman play enough. On expunging Graham O'Reilly writes: "Entirely agree with the posts at 10.44 and 10.46, except expunging the Test Match. I can't see any reason to penalise Trott and Broad for this." For the good of the game - how about that? But Trott and Broad are victims too, no doubt.

Finn was just finishing from last night. Here's Anderson to take over.

17th over: Pakistan 52-4 (Azhar Ali 3, Umar Akmal 5) Swann from the other end and as usual he is bang on first ball, a beauty that beats Ali's prod and there's a big appeal for a stumping but his foot was anchored. Hurray for England and they're unambiguous, undiluted desire to win. Ali then drives nicely for another three. I wonder if there will be any chat out there. Bet they've all been told to keep it clean. Umar Akmal reminds us that Pakistan can also play by driving the last ball of the over for a lovely easy four to the cover ropes where there is a huge gap.

16th over: Pakistan 45-4 (Azhar Ali 3, Umar Akmal 1) Akmal gets off the mark with a gentle pull for one and Azhar follows with a nudge through midwicket. Pakistan players and officials are out on the balcony reading a printed statement. Wonder what it is. They look very very sombre. Rohan Grove writes: "Tom and Keith: pathetic. You're the sort that give guardian readers a bad name. Talk about shoot the messenger. I'm no fan of some of the Murdoch empire's tactics but fair play to the paper today. A sad day for cricket."

10.59am: Ravi laments, and I'm sure many of you will agree: "The last two days have been among my favourite two days ever of test cricket. Today I feel as if there's no point. Should I watch the F1 instead? What a way to take away any joy I've taken in all this..." Well, not perhaps F1 if you want a proper sport, but I know what you mean. Finn will open the bowling.

10.58am: Robert Scott writes, and he's right: "The ECB should refund all ticket money for today's test. It is no longer a cricket match and even if it does start it will be over quickly. There is no way the Pakistan team(or England) can focus on cricket. The ECB, PCB and ICC have no balls of their own. If proven guilty there should be life bans on the players concerned. But it wont happen; they will get a ban and then get re-instated in 12 months. That is the history. The whole summer series looks tarnished : For instance how about the 11 dropped catches at Edgbaston? Most if them easy."

10.56am: The umpires are out on the field, looking a little rueful. I think everyone just wants this over and done with now. Pakistan's bowlers, remember, still have to bat.

10.55am: David Mayo writes: "You can't expunge it. It would be nice if you could, but how far back do you go? This test? This series? The recent Australia series over here? The series in Australia, where there were murmurs of match fixing? Every match for the last two and a half years? Without any hard information about every incident, you're just guessing. And the historical precedent, I believe, is to let the result stand." Yes you can. If this is proven - ie you have hard information - then expunge it. And any other game where dishonesty is proven (not just suspected) then take it out of the record books. Seems very clear to me.

10.53am: Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports News: ": "Part of me says you've got to make a statement, and say: 'Right, ban for life'. If you come down tough maybe it says to everyone, 'Don't get involved, that's the end of your career'. But another part of me says, 'Should you give a person another chance?'. Let's give all these guys the benefit of doubt that they deserve." I would ban anyone with any previous form on this sort of thing for life. Someone like Amir: you've got to give him another chance.

10.51am: Michael Vaughan on Twitter: ""Anger is my thought at the moment.. I don't see how they can get out of this one ... it's just a great shame why this has to happen. Very sad." Pakistan have failed to appear at Lord's. No warm-up, just a last-minute creeping in. It's not an admission of guilt exactly, but it's certainly not a denial and it's all just extremely sad.

10.48am: Tom England is also anti-Screws: "Possibly the saddest aspect of recent events is that Sky have just shown an MCC member reading the News of the World in the pavillon. That's the real scandal." Don't blame the press. No no no. They just sniffed a weakness, heard the rumours we'd all heard and this is the only way to bring it to light and not get sued. You have to have proof.

10.47am: Keith Flett has another view, but I'm not buying it. "Blimey all is not what it seems in modern capitalism or 'all that is solid melts into air' as Marx noted. I blame the clean shaven Murdochism of the News of the World for fake sheikhery and entrapment." Come off it.

10.47am: James Walsh on the sadness: "I missed yesterday's play because I was at a wedding, so woke up this morning looking forward to working my way through yesterday's OBO in its entirety before eating sausages. Instead I see headlines about 'match-fixing' and my day is ruins. Not that it is actually match-fixing, but still. Oh, cricket." Oh indeed.

10.46am: And just to come on all Guardian for a moment: all crimes have their origin in a combination of dishonesty, weakness and major economic inequity. Why is it Pakistan players who are doing this? Certainly they don't have access to the riches their international colleagues do. Pakistanis are still banned from the IPL. They must, on some level, feel excluded and a little bitter. Cricket is awash with riches for the first time, unless you're from Pakistan. Commensurate to talent their best players are massively under-paid. No excuse at all. But maybe some kind of explanation.

10.44am: To date the word is play will start on time as usual. Pakistan have crept in to Lord's and skipped the warm-up. Feelings are already running high. These are mine for what they're worth:
1. These are just allegations so far. Nothing has been proved.
1. Still, this Test Match now seems entirely irrelevant. I feel for Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad, but if it is proven the match - and maybe the series - should be expunged. Just my view, but I'd feel much, much better if it was.
2. Mohammed Amir: innocent until proven. But if so... what a tragedy.
3. You can say the bowlers were clearly trying to get England's batsmen out, and that this is just a side issue, but it doesn't work like that. You can't switch your focus on and off. This is endemic.

10.34am: Hello and welcome to - what exactly? Suddenly this - the stuff on the pitch, with England needing six wickets to seal the hollowest of victories - all seems deeply irrelevant. Terrible, terrible news overnight that Pakistan players may have been involved in alleged spot-fixing. Suddenly everyone just feels absolutely terrible about all this.
This is of course a matter of sporting principle, but it is also to do with context. this isn't some pointless ODI in Dubai - it's a Lord's Test. I feel like I've had to watch someone giving Nelson Mandela a Chinese burn, or jabbing the Queen in the eye.
Very interested to hear your thoughts today. And we will of course have all latest from around the ground from David Hopps as soon as any further news breaks.

Barney Ronay will be here shortly. In the meantime, here was the dramatic news that broke late last night, as reported by Vic Marks:

Pakistan lost 14 wickets in a day at Lord's, which means that they are bound to lose both the fourth Test and the series against England, but last night this seemed to be the least of their concerns.

The Pakistan camp was subjected to allegations of corruption by the News of the World. The paper claims that a middle-man, Mazhar Majeed, had accepted £150,000 and it is alleged that in return the Pakistan pace bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, delivered no-balls on purpose at preordained moments in the match.

Asif said: "I have spoken to the management and they have told us something happened, but not what. The management will tell us more later. We are 100% focused on the match tomorrow."

Yawar Saeed, the Pakistan tour manager, said: "I can confirm that we are aware of the allegations and Scotland Yard police are with us now at the hotel and we are helping them with their enquiries."

Read the rest of his report here.

• Follow the action on the sly with our desktop scoreboard
• Email words to rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk
• Check the full scorecard from Lord's
• Enjoy/endure a rare cricket Joy of Six
• Have a gander at our county cricket blog
• Follow Rob's new website on Twitter

32nd over: England 84-5 (Trott 31, Prior 18) Prior cuts a no-ball from Wahab just wide of the diving gully. The sun is starting to come out, and that's bad news for England. In other news, if you only read one thing today, read this brilliant and charming little story from Edward Genochio. "Jonathan Trott's gentle wordplay with Umar Akmal reminds me of a story long-told in the dressing room of the village team I once played for. A bunch of the guys were touring Australia to follow an Ashes series, and found themselves drinking in the same bar as the Australian team. One of my village team-mates, who sported a Merv-a-like walrus moustache, approached Merv Hughes and opened up with the line 'Hallo Merv! Two of the world's greatest moustaches meet at last!' Merv, turning on the charm, replied 'Yeah, and one of the world's biggest cees,' and walked away."

I think it's the fact Merv walked away that I like most about this story, thus instantly obliterating the sliver of hope your team-mate had that Merv was joshing and had in fact – like Richard Wilson being greeted with a lusty "I don't belieeeeeeeve it" – waited his entire life to be serenaded by someone with a similar moustache.

31st over: England 81-5 (Trott 30, Prior 17) An interesting move from Pakistan: John McCririck is coming into the attack Kamran Akmal has gone up to the stumps for Asif, so that Trott cannot bat outside his crease. It's a quite over, with just a single to Trott. Both batsmen have now faced 55 balls: Trott has 30 and Prior 17, which might frazzle a few preconceptions. "Why is it we only have one England bowler, DB Close, in the top 50 bowling stats for 18-year-olds, way back in the 1940s?" asks Ric Sumner. "Have we not produced a single teen bowling prodigy in the past 60 years?" Oh we've produced loads – but you're not actually supposed to pick them, are you? Wake up laddie!

30th over: England 80-5 (Trott 29, Prior 17) A single off Wahab takes Trott to 1000 Test runs, and an average of 50. He has played extremely well this morning.
"I think that Amir's most impressive quality is his timotei advert standard flowing locks, he has a fantastic set of bangs," says Tom Van der Gucht. "If I find out he's been using straighteners on them then he'll lose some of my respect, but still with hair like his you don't need to worry about anything. A bad day on the field can be resolved by spending ten minutes looking in a mirror swinging your head from side to side and watching your hair majestically swing around. Perhaps that's where he gets his bowling prowess, a bit like Samson and the early career Jimmy Anderson who required exciting highlights to boost his confidence. Anderson that is not Samson." A) Don't talk so lustily about hair, you know it gets bald people upset; B) Bangs? You made that up in the shower this morning, didn't you?

29th over: England 79-5 (Trott 28, Prior 17) Asif again goes wide on the crease to again beat Prior with one that held its line. Prior responds well, walking down and across to work the next ball through midwicket for four. At the other end Pakistan are really trying to tear Trott from his bubble with some concentrated patter. "Should have known in you were in the OBO hot seat, the second KP's wicket went," says Andy Bradshaw. "Do we need to have a word with the powers that be, so you only cover the opposition's innings. I'm willing to cough up for your Smarties allowance." Smarties? Is that what they're calling it these days?

28th over: England 75-5 (Trott 28, Prior 13) Another maiden from Wahab, this time to Trott, but England will feel relatively comfortable at his end. If you think this is hard enough, Mike Selvey pointed out that Pakistan also have Mohammad Irfan, a 7ft left armer, waiting in the wings. Have a look at this YouTube clip; it looks like he's been CGIed! Imagine facing him with one of those dodgy low sightscreens

27th over: England 75-5 (Trott 28, Prior 13) Prior, on the walk, is beaten by Asif. There's a great discussion between David Gower and Nasser Hussain on Sky as to the merits of walking at a bowler like Asif: Gower is in favour, Hussain isn't sure. I know I prattle on about Sky's coverage a lot but it's such good stuff, with particular props for their concerted effort to educate the uninitiated viewers: primarily children, and me. One from the over, and these two – England's best two batsmen at the moment – are doing okay in the circumstances. "Following on from Naylor's point about body armour, I'm reading a book by Douglas Jardine at the moment," says Phil Sawyer. "He declares that 'the sight of a grown man wearing thigh or chest protection is faintly ridiculous'." I'd love to have heard his thoughts on sarongs. In fact, when I invent a DeLorean, the first thing I am going to do is zip back to the 1930s, pick up Douglas Jardine and drop him right in the middle of Hoxton, summer 2010, armed with only a cricket bat and the fierce desire to get masculinity back on track.

26th over: England 74-5 (Trott 28, Prior 13) As Wahab bowls a relatively anodyne maiden to Prior, the umpire Tony Hill has a word with both Trott and the Pakistan captain Salman Butt. It's early days for him on the Elite Panel – even though he made his Test debut nine years ago – but I like Tony Hill a lot. "So now the sky has fallen in, what makes Ian Bell immune today where others haven't been?" says Chris Rose. "This seems exactly the sort of day that he would have slipped below the stormy seas with the rest of them. Like I say, the Harris ball mentally scarred me..." You are right. I was being flippant – it can be good fun – but in reality I would not, to use Bumble's phrase, have given Bell tuppence today. That said, his work over the past year, particularly in South Africa, demands a place in the top six. I love Eoin Morgan so much it stings, but you could not pick him over Bell at the moment.

25th over: England 74-5 (Trott 28, Prior 13) Asif has switched ends and has a big shout for LBW against Trott first ball. It was a hopeless shout: outside the line, missing off and going over, although that's not a criticism of Pakistan because Trott's decision to bat outside his crease to Asif can be confusing. Trott edges the next one low to third man for two. In the Sky box Nasser Hussain, who played one of the all-time-great bad-wicket innings in New Zealand in 2001-02, reckons that England's batsmen might be going a fraction too hard at the ball, but the key factor this morning has definitely been good bowling. Meanwhile, Trott and Umar Akmal engage in some zesty, heartfelt wordplay. I couldn't hear Akmal's, but Trott responded with "you effing cee". The good thing about Trott is that it shouldn't affect his concentration. It's a rare skill indeed to be able to call someone an "effing cee" one second and concentrate fully on your job the next. I don't know it's a good skill, but it's definitely a rare one.

24th over: England 72-5 (Trott 26, Prior 13) Wahab Riaz is coming on to replace Mohammad Asif. The worry for England is that, unlike James Corden, the ball cannot talk all day: the forecast is much better for later today and there is a real concern that England will be, to borrow the word all the cricket kidz of Hoxton are using, TrentBridge2007ed. That wasn't much of a first over from Wahab, with three runs coming from it. He needs to be much fuller in length; and when he is, from the final delivery, Prior is drawn into a loose waft that connects only with fresh air.

Drinks break plug for my mate's brilliant book department "Girls in mini-skirts / Oh my! How they please! / Girls in mini-skirts / Revealing their knees." So went the chorus of Girls In Mini Skirts, a 1960s ditty written by Barrow-in-Furness's answer to Hal David, Maurice Flitcroft. The budding pop star sent it to Les Reed, the man who wrote Delilah and It's Not Unusual, for advice. Reed replied, saying that he quite liked the lyrics but didn't appear to have been sent any music. "Can't you do that?" responded Maurice. "Surely that's the easy bit?" The catchy stanza was never committed to vinyl.

Instead, Maurice was destined to become the world's worst professional golfer, running up a score of 121 in the 1976 Open, which really pushed the golfing authorities' patience. It was on. The subsequent shenanigans are recalled in the outrageous true story of a life less ordinary, Phantom of the Open by Scott Murray and Simon Farnaby; you can win a signed copy here. Or just not bother with that charade and buy it here.

23rd over: England 69-5 (Trott 25, Prior 11) Salman Butt has been faffing around with his fields all morning, mostly reactively, to the dismay of Michael Holding and Ian Botham in the Sky box. He has had no more than three slips, which is odd given that the ball is growling both ways from a length – and now he has taken out the short leg. Prior is again beaten by a good one, this time from Amir, and that's the end of an unforgettable hour. Who needs a drink? "Why are we playing the last Test of the summer at Lord's?" says Hugh Curtis. "This is wrong. We are incurring the wrath of the Cricketing Gods. I propose Giles Clarke as a sacrifice." First time since 1991, of course. I'd like to say I had to Statsguru thatf fact. I'd like to say a lot of things.

22nd over: England 68-5 (Trott 24, Prior 11) Asif goes much wider on the crease – so wide that it was almost a no-ball – and beats Prior with another delightful leg-cutter. Prior, drawn forward into Geoff Boycott's favourite corridor, is also beaten by the final delivery of the over. What a joy Asif is. I can't recall the last time we saw a bowler with such control of both seam and swing. I love his laid-back he is as well. If you dropped a marmot in the bath, he'd calmly pick it up, bowl it on a length down the other end of the bathroom and get it to seam square. He is a remarkable character. "The tree," begins Lori McConnachie, promisingly, "is the best thing in Ultimate Big Brother."

21st over: England 67-5 (Trott 24, Prior 11) Life is starting to get a touch easier for England – these things are relative – and Prior works Amir off his pads for a couple before steering three more to third man. Trott is then drawn towards that killer wide delivery and fresh-airs a big drive. "My father accused me of putting a hex on England after Trent Bridge," says Ellen Betts. "I'm going to Lord's for the first time this Sunday and wanted to see some competitive cricket and was therefore supporting Pakistan. Andy Bull called me a good luck charm last week (clearly erroneously). How can I stop this voodoo?!" Burn your ticket in a ritual sacrifice? You could make it a big event: invite everyone in the village and get them to wear Fazal Mahmood masks to evoke the first time Pakistan's quicks skittled England.

20th over: England 60-5 (Trott 22, Prior 6) Asif draws an edge from Prior with another lovely legcutter, but the ball drops short of Butt at second slip and goes through him to the boundary. England have their own run-scoring V this morning, and it's an extremely tight one between backward point and third man. "I know he is bowling well this morning and he is only 18 but let's not go to over the top on Mohamed Amir," says Garreth Rule. "His stats currently are shaping up a bit like Jimmy Anderson, devastating when it swings (28 at 18 in England) and pretty ineffective when it doesn't (21 at 43 everywhere else)." I have to disagree. Two things: the statistical sample is far too small to be relevant, and sometimes – just occasionally – you have to try what your eyes tell you rather than what Statsguru tells you. His maturity is staggering, and nobody in the history of the game has taken so many Test wickets before his 19th birthday. I think I forgot to mention this earlier, but he's 18.

19th over: England 55-5 (Trott 22, Prior 1) Batting-loving weirdo that he is, I reckon Trott is enjoying this. He will really relish the challenge of his technique and particularly his mental strength. He is beaten by a good one slanted across him and then awkwardly works a bouncer into the leg side for a single – the first runs of Amir this morning. No wonder it was awkward: it was a huge no-ball, absolutely massive. Prior is beaten by the next ball and, as the Sky commentators are at pains to point out, this really hasn't been England's fault. Pietersen played a poor stroke but the rest got cracking deliveries. "Could you please stop greeting every wicket with so much glee?" says Melanie Brown. "Yes I appreciate it's scintillating cricket, but I'm supposed to be going on Sunday and with each dismissal that's looking less and less likely. Forgive me for shooting the messenger but frankly, you're ruining my weekend." Smyth-ruins-a-girl's-weekend-shocker. But seriously folks, because Smyth can do serious, this is just wonderful cricket. Balls to being partisan; we'll remember that half hour for years.

18th over: England 52-5 (Trott 21, Prior 0) A very streaky boundary for Trott, who drives at Asif and edges it low through the vacant third-slip area for four. England are all over the show here and there are, as Barney Ronay has just pointed out, echoes of 1997, when Glenn McGrath rolled England for 77 on this ground. Prior is beaten by a ludicrous jaffa that pitched middle and legt and swung miles past the outside edge. "Pretending to be Rob Smyth to get out of your nuptials, eh, Mr Bull?" says Andrew Benzeval. "Good disguise, but the tumble of English wickets is a dead giveaway I'm afraid." Agreed. Smyth is a good man – a thinker and a gentleman – and wouldn't do this to his twos of readers.

17th over: England 47-5 (Trott 16, Prior 0) That was so nearly Amir's fifth wicket of the morning. Prior reached outside off for another full delivery and screwed it low to gully, where it was taken by Umar Amin. Immediately he signalled to the umpires that he was not sure if it carried, and that they should go upstairs to check. It was impossible to tell either way on the replays, so Prior survives. For now. Amin has hurt his finger in the process and is leaving the field. "Re the 43s vs the 37s averages now and then, it shows how good Robin Smith's 43ish was (I know you'll know it to the n'th decimal place)," says Gary NaylOHOKAYITWAS43.67or. "What's been shown up in this summer (in the Pak vs Aus series too) is the impact of body armour on batting. For too long, it's been too easy to go hard at the ball and 'get on top of the bowlers' secure in the knowledge that being hit won't hurt. In consequence, batsmen have got used to playing at the ball instead of watching the ball - and aren't they being found out?" Interesting theory. Were I capable of anything resembling coherent thought right now – all I can do is shake my head, dribble a bit and repeatedly mutter "he's 18" – I'd try to come out with a response. While we're in Naylor territory, he's only half joking with this suggestion: "Time for a Brearleyesque declaration!"

WICKET! England 47-5 (Morgan c Hameed b Amir 0) Another Amir over, another duck: this time it's Morgan. This is unbelievable cricket. Morgan pushed tentatively at another beautiful, full outswinger and edged it low to first slip, where Yasir Hameed took a fine low catch. Like Collingwood, he lasted only three balls. Amir has four wickets for no runsthis morning – and the figures don't flatter him! In the commentary box, Ramiz Raja uses the ultimate compliment, the one usually reserved exclusively for Wasim Akram: Amir is indeed making the ball talk. It's spellbinding. He's 18.

16th over: England 47-4 (Trott 16, Morgan 0) Runs! I swear, some real runs, as Trott slices a drive off Asif past backward point for four. He drives the next ball more authentically through the covers for four more, a very good shot. Who would have thought, when he was getting pelters only four months ago, that he would be England's most reliable batsman. "If you'd knock six off of batting averages, would you do the same to bowlers'?" asks Brendan Murray. "Making Anderson a better bowler than Botham, or Steyn better than Curtley?" Nup, partly because the bowlers aren't as good, and partly because – even if the difference were entirely based on pitch conditions – there are some obvious mathematical reasons that I am far too stupid to explain why you would deduct less than six for the bowlers.

15th over: England 39-4 (Trott 8, Morgan 0) A double-wicket maiden. This is simply wonderful stuff, enough to make a grown man want to use the word 'exhilarating' to a stranger in the street and tell him all about it. "I have an actual serious cricket point," apologises Chris Rose. "Why is Ian Bell a certainty to walk back into this side? His first game in five months is likely to be a tour match Down Under. Call me pragmatic (and a Bell un-believer*), but that's just not enough preparation, is it? *I admit it, I still can't forgive him for the Harris ball" Here's a clue. (To be far to Chris, he sent this email at 10.56am, when the sky hadnv't fallen in.)

WICKET! England 39-4 (Collingwood LBW b Amir 0) Collingwood has gone third ball! He was given not out by Billy Bowden after a big LBW appeal, but it looked good and it was overturned on review. The ball pitched on a length on middle stump and jagged back really sharply, and Collingwood just couldn't drag his bat down in time. Amir has three in five balls, and England have lost three wickets without scoring a run this morning.

WICKET! England 39-3 (Pietersen c K Akmal b Amir 0) Pietersen has gone first ball! This is sensational! He threw everything at a full ball slanted across him that didn't swing back in, but it was just too wide and he could only snick it through to Akmal. In truth that's a horrible shot, and it's the fourth golden duck of his Test career. The wonderful Mohammad Amir is on a hat-trick and England in some extremely ill-smelling stuff.

14th over: England 39-2 (Trott 8, Pietersen 0) Here comes the master craftsman, Mohammad Asif, the ball on a string and Jonathan Trott in his sights. He has a biggish appeal for LBW second ball, but it was too high (Trott bats out of his crease against Asif). There's plenty of seam movement, so Trott only plays when he has to do so, and it's a maiden. "Are you able to reveal which, of OK, Hello, and Wisden has bought the rights to photograph Bull's wedding this weekend?" asks Jonathan McCauley-Oliver. Magazines? That's soooo 2009. He's sold them to Cricinfo's Twitter page.

13th over: England 39-2 (Trott 8, Pietersen 0) "What are the chances of rain tomorrow?" says Emma John. "I want to know if my M&S; coronation chicken sandwiches are going to get soggy in the Upper Edrich, and whether my mum and I are going to run out of cricket to talk about, resulting in the prospect of seven hours dissecting my career/my hair/my lack of a husband." With it being before midday and what passes for my brain thus not in gear, I originally read that as 'my lack of hair'. I'm not sure what the moral of this story is. Drink more coffee?

WICKET! England 39-2 (Cook c K Akmal b Amir 10) This is magnificent cricket. Amir had only three balls left from the over he started yesterday, but there was not even the sniff of a loosener. The first ball brought a forward defensive. The second was a jaffa that beat Cook, and the third swung late to take the edge of Cook's defensive stroke on its way through to Kamran Akmal. Cook had to play at that. It's just brilliant fast bowling from anyone, never mind an 18-year-old.

10.58am The players are coming onto the field. I don't know about you, but I'm this excited about this morning's play. England are going to get a serious workout.

There, I've said it department John McCririck is the best thing on Ultimate Big Brother. Those chats with the tree! The toplessness! The toplessness!

Paul Collingwood's verdict on yesterday "It was a very boring day listening to Swanny to be honest."

I love Paul Collingwood, and I love Graeme Swann.

Preach on brother department "How wonderful it's been to see the balance between bat and ball swing back in the bowler's favour," says Andy Stiff. "I've enjoyed this series a damn sight more than any in recent summers, bar both Ashes. Best of all, I'm working in Reading and have been watching festival scum getting drenched for the last three days. It's all upside."

It's fascinating how many modern batsmen, sitting snugly on a Test average in the 40s, come out in a rash every time the ball starts deviating off the straight. I'd still take Atherton/Hussain/Lamb's 37ish average of the 43ish average of most of this England team.

Song du jour department Indeed this whole album is brilliant, for two main reasons:

1. Surf-pop perfection.
2. Cool sleeve art. With a cat.

That said, their best song of all isn't on the album.

More good news and bad news Play should start at 11am if it doesn't rain and the world doesn't end in the next half hour. We will have a maximum of 98.3 overs in the day.

Preamble Good morning all. A great philosopher once said, there's good news and bad news, and that's certainly the case at Lord's today. The good news is that it's overcast and a little bit wet – and that's the bad news too.

If you're English and into the whole results thing, it's good because we should lose more time in a game that England only need draw, and it's bad news because, when we do play, England will be exposed to another trial by MAMA: the magnificent Pakistan duo of Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, who are surely the best new-ball pair in the world in such conditions.

If you're a cricket fan first and an England fan second (probably an entertainer third), it's good because we will see Amir and Asif, whose partnership should become the abiding memory of this summer, work their magic in favourable conditions, and it's bad because we might not see so much of them.

Either way, England will resume on 39 for one, with Alastair Cook somehow not out on 10 and Jonathan Trott on eight. As my colleague Barney Ronay said a moment ago, as we annoyed urgent Guardianistas by getting in their way while talking about cricket on the stairs, there aren't many England batsmen you'd back to succeed in these conditions and in current form. Trott and Prior, but that's about it. Then again, that walking wicket Bull – the OBO answer to Gerry Liebenberg and Vikram Rathore is what the people aren't calling him – has gone off to get married, so there's every chance England will rack 14 million for two.

The weather conspired against Pakistan today. Only 12 overs and three balls were possible, and that not until the afternoon of the opening day of the final Test, one which the visitors have to win to square the series.

By the time the gloom returned, followed by persistent and ultimately terminal drizzle, England had reached 39 for the loss of Andrew Strauss, bowled through the gate for 13, but by the right-arm metronome Mohammad Asif rather than the left-arm teenager Mohammad Amir, hitherto his tormentor-in-chief. Alastair Cook remains unbeaten on 10, although not without tribulations – he was dropped once and survived a caught-behind decision only after referral – while Jonathan Trott has eight.

Hereafter, the forecast perks up, and with time made up each day – 98.3 overs are scheduled tomorrow – and the Lord's drainage allowing play almost immediately after the most drenching downpours, the game may yet run its natural course. But the early advantage that Salman Butt will have felt when he won the toss and asked England to bat, will have dissipated a little.

There was insufficient play for it to be called a battle – more a skirmish – but the Pakistan bowlers came at England with intent. There was purpose in their warm-up alongside the square once Butt had called correctly at the toss, and intensity in the catching practice too, although that was to prove less productive as the high standards achieved in their victory at the Oval dropped closer to the dismal efforts in the first two Tests. If England got off to a flyer when Amir sent the first delivery way down the legside for five wides, then he and Asif soon renewed their interrogation of the techniques and temperament of the openers.

In the third over Amir, bowling from the Pavilion end where the slope sets him well at the crease, and helps him run the ball away from both left-handers, ought to have got an early reward. Cook, watchful with only one to his name, was nonetheless drawn into a push and he edged at knee height to the right of Umar Akmal at third slip, who grassed the chance.

This, by my reckoning, was the 18th catch Pakistan have dropped in the series and while it is only a hypothetical exercise to try to assess the real cost in terms of runs, the damage in morale can be immense. You rarely give a good batsman in form a second chance (Cook of course is fresh from a century at The Oval) and expect not to pay for it. That Cook then edged the next ball to third man for the day's only boundary added insult to injury.

There was a further escape for Cook when he had nine, although this was down to the review system, which showed that the noise that had caused Billy Bowden to give him out caught behind, off Amir once more, had in fact come from bat striking pad. He was nowhere near the ball.

Strauss, meanwhile, had been concentrating hard on playing a circumspect innings. A compilation of the deliveries bowled to him by Asif through the series shows that very few would have gone on to hit the stumps so judgment of what to leave is imperative. However, having faced 36 deliveries, he then encountered one which swung in to him, carried on off the seam and down the slope, catching the inside edge before careering on to leg stump.

Credit to the bowler though: this was a classic piece of Nursery end bowling. Strauss and Cook had begun the innings requiring 54 runs together to overtake Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe as England's most prolific opening pair in terms of aggregate runs if not, by a factor of more than two, of average partnership. They still need 23.

By now the clouds were descending once more. Met Office radar showed the rain spreading from the South-west and as the drizzle began the Lord's floodlights pierced the murk like gaslamps in a Victorian smog. But there was time for Trott, that most diligently obsessive of practicers – last out of the nets on Tuesday, with the groundstaff waiting to shut up shop – to clip his first ball, a leg-stump half-volley from Asif (something of a collectors' item) through midwicket. Mohammad Yousuf, his figure a little portly, chased the ball gamely up the slope, but must have been willing it to reach the ropes, lest the batsmen run five. They might have made it too, had they not settled for an easy all-run four.

Both sides announced unchanged sides from the previous Test, which means that England have now gone through the series with the same 11 players. This, it transpires, is a rarity for those of four matches or more, with only England twice (and not for the last 120 years), and Australia, West Indies and South Africa once apiece also managing it.

Opener Virender Sehwag's stylish century and tight seam bowling by Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel guided India into the tri-series final with a crushing 105-run