While I was away...

On the morning of the second day of the second Test, I skipped the country for a jolly. Hence I missed the end of 75 years of hurt at what everybody outside Yorkshire refers to as the home of cricket. Ably aided by a band of text maniacs, I was kept up to date wicket-by-wicket while the rest of France looked on with, at best, utter indifference and sneering contempt.

So I missed much of the game. Day one was another like day one at Cardiff, only this time it was Alistair Cook and Andrew Strauss rather than Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood that got the runs. Strauss then got out in ridiculous fashion just as I was on the way out of the door and off to the airport. I didn't see Ricky Ponting's disputed wicket and subsequent trademark strop. I didn't see Strauss fail to enforce the follow on and this time get away with it. I didn't see Flintoff's first five-for since the last Ashes series in England. I didn't get the jitters while Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin piled a lot of runs on. And I didn't see comical bowling from Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson.

And I'm not seeing any of it now either. While I was sunning myself in scorching temperatures on the Mediterranean coast, it seems that Birmingham, along with most of the rest of the UK, has been pelted from above. With rain, in case that wasn't clear. That's held up play for all of day one so far, but play is due to begin on 20 minutes time (at time of writing).

Australia will bat with Shane Watson opening in the absence of the naughty Phil Hughes. Watson hasn't batted higher than six in Tests before. That's their only change while England's is enforced - Ian Bell replacing the injured Kevin Pietersen. This could be an interesting little session here.

Day one

There is never an excuse for deploying a nightwatchman - never. On a slow wicket, England made decent progress on day one of the Ashes today in Cardiff. Everyone got a start and England rebuilt manfully after being reduced to 90 for 3 by lunch.

There was a wobble when first Collingwood and then Pietersen got out - a comical dismissal to a Nathan Hauritz delivery which, if left, would have been called wide - but Matt Prior and Andrew Flintoff put on a swashbuckling show to put on 86 for the fifth wicket. Momentum was with England heading into the final overs of the day, but then Flintoff played on to Peter Siddle and out walks Jimmy Anderson.

Now this isn't a critique of Anderson who has the most consecutive Test knocks without a duck, but attacking he is not. Suddenly the sting went out of England and, when Prior succumbed to a cracking Siddle in-cutter, the momentum swung back towards the visitors once again.

Ah, the nuances of Test cricket. After the smorgasbord of limited, and very limited, overs cricket, it's good to get back to the real deal. Day one was tremendously even and there are no markers laid down yet for how this pans out over the coming weeks.