Ashes series- Cardiff

The first of the 5 test Ashes series kicked off at Cardiff amidst great hype on the nature of wicket at Cardiff.. The pitch has turned out to be a belter of a wicket and easy for scoring..

First day was even, with England notching up 336 for the loss of 7 wickets.. England would be unhappy with the loss of wickets late in the day.. Pieterson got out after playing a classy knock.. Surprisingly, Hauritz who was regarded as a poor bowler ended up with 3 wickets and the all important scalp of Pieterson..

Second day was Aussie all the way.. After knocking of the tail, they had an impressive start with Hughes scoring quickly before lunch.. After lunch, Flintoff-Hughes contest was great to watch with the former bowling constantly around 90mph and bowling bouncers.. Hughes was dancing at the crease, poor footwork.. Flintoff got the better of Hughes but that was the only thing for the English to celebrate as the run machine in Katich notched up yet another century, his first in Ashes.. Ponting after some niggles early on steadied himself and brought up his 38th century and doing so he surpassed the landmark of 11000 runs in test cricket..

Third day, Aussies piled on the runs.. Katich got out after making a well compiled Katich like innings of 122 which ended a magnificent 239-run stand with Ricky Ponting; the fifth-highest second-wicket partnership by an Australian pair in Ashes contests. Ponting got out on 150, He is now 60 short of Border to become highest run getter for Australia...Border is the highest Test run-scorer among Australian batsmen, and third over all behind Sachin Tendulkar (12,773) and Brian Lara (11,953). Clarke and North then played well to bring up their half centuries..

Interesting points to note :
> Australia are on top despite missing Lee ; probably a blessing in disguise..
>Good control in bowling; an unexpected one according to media reports..
>Hauritz has more wickets than Swann and Panesar put together..
>Ponting has finally scored a 100..
>Broad is disappointing , dint seem to trouble the batsmen at all.. Looked very slow despite bowling at higher 80s MPH.. Anderson was far from his best..
>Swann needs additional attention.. I seriously dint get the point at all.. He was having 2 slips for Katich and bowling around the wicket and bowling where ? On middle and leg.. Thats ridiculous.. Do not say that not even one in the playing 11 of England could spot that or the coach or anybody else could have sent a word across to the field.. He simply did not bring the slips into play at all..
>Panesar was used so poorly by Stauss.. was introduced into the attack so late on day 2.. He is one of your major strike bowler what the hell are you doing covering him up for such a long time.. And also to see him bowl with such defensive fields was disappointing..

On the whole, English think tank (If at all there is one) has failed miserably in handling bowling changes..
Australia on top.. Its now upto Ricky to decide when (if a situation arises) to declare and declare sportively, giving enough time for their bowlers to bowl England out in their 2nd innings..

Need : quick runs