A FEW deep breaths and unwavering concentration will be needed by England this morning if they are to start the first Cornhill Test at Edgbaston in the way they want, Christopher Martin-Jenkins.

To make the most of the impetus they gained in the one-day games they will have to control the adrenalin which has surged too forcefully on the opening morning of at least four Tests since they bowled out India by tea-time here last year. At Headingley against Pakistan, Bulawayo against Zimbabwe, and in both Auckland and Christchurch against New Zealand their new-ball bowlers got over-excited, bowled too short and sprayed the ball.

The icily efficient Glenn McGrath is unlikely to make the same mistake if he is the one to get first use of a dry but well-grassed pitch in the thundery conditions expected. Australia are, by popular consent, the strongest contemporary Test side and they would not give England a second chance if they should field first and bowl poorly today. A good start is important in any Test series, but the last six contests for the Ashes have been won by the country winning the first match.

Australia are certainly vulnerable. They have had too short a preparation, their captain, Mark Taylor, has not scored a fifty in his last 20 Test innings and they have chosen to leave out their third best batsman, Michael Slater, a decision of extraordinary folly which could only have been made by selectors so close to the wood that they cannot see the trees. Greg Blewett, the choice at three, will be a pleasure to watch if he gets going but his big innings so far have come further down the order.

Such is the ability of the Waugh twins to rise to the occasion that the instability at the top has been covered up in the recent series against the West Indies and South Africa and in McGrath Australia have a wonderfully consistent fast bowler whose 119 Test wickets have come at 12 runs a wicket fewer than Devon Malcolm's.

If Shane Warne is not quite the bowler he was when he burst upon English consciousness like a firework at Old Trafford four years ago, he is still a great leg-spinner. He has deliberately been holding back until now and as Taylor said yesterday: ``He'll up the ante when the Tests start.''

Mark Butcher, who in his first Test becomes Mike Atherton's ninth opening partner, and the four established batsmen around him, therefore have as hard a task as the bowlers to establish an early authority. If the ball swings as it is expected to do here over the next few days, Mike Kasprowicz may prove as dangerous as the speedy Jason Gillespie.

It is worth recalling what became of the Darren Gough /Malcolm new-ball partnership when it was last employed at the start of a home series, against the West Indies two seasons ago. Malcolm took a wicket at once but was withdrawn after only two overs with one for 24 as Brian Lara tucked into too much that was short-pitched and wide. He was not even given the new ball in the second innings. Gough fell into the same trap, but he is a wiser and better bowler now.

At his best Malcolm would form with Gough a dangerously pacey opening partnership, but at his worst he might be just what Taylor needs. Accuracy, length and safe catching will be the keys if England are to exploit the present uncertainty in Australian ranks, which is the reason for the probable return to the side of Mark Ealham as a medium-paced swing bowler who can be relied upon to bowl a length.

Andrew Caddick, a more relaxed and confident character after his success in New Zealand, is, like Gough and Malcolm, a bowler in form and he should be a more formidable opponent than he was when he took five wickets at 97 runs each against Australia in 1993.

The ace in Atherton's pack, however, may turn out to be the little Welshman, Robert Croft. He has all the off-spinner's varieties at his command and can beat right-handed batsmen on their off-side by curve quite as often as getting past their inside edges by turning the ball. His first meeting with Mark Waugh in particular will be instructive because that commanding batsman will want to dictate terms early if he can.

Most England supporters would pray for a home victory sometime over the next five days - the first three are sold out and over 12,000 tickets have been sold for Sunday too - accompanied by success for Taylor, whose innate decency has shone through all his success as Australia captain. He remains, however, a man in a crisis until such time as his eyes, hands and feet once again move to the same beat.

The assessments of both Harry Brind and Dennis Amiss, who have both monitored the preparation of the pitch, is that it will be more even in bounce than the last two here. The dedicated groundsman, Steve Rouse, has had help from Brind and Ron Allsopp, former maestros at the Oval and Trent Bridge. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, however, and it certainly does not look the stuff of batsmen's dreams.

Australia's loss of five of their last six matches, irrelevant though they may be in relation to five-day Tests, are reflected in the odds: the best price against England to win the game is 3-1 and only the weather forecast has persuaded Ladbrokes to make a drawn game the favourite. Cornhill Insurance offer £17,000 to the winning team in each Test of the series and yesterday they announced a three-year extension of their sponsorship of home Tests which will produce a further £9 million from 1998 to 2000.

The match will mark the 40th anniversary of the first unbroken radio commentary of Test cricket in England. The Edgbaston Test of 1957 launched the BBC slogan 'Don't miss a ball, we broadcast them all' and so they have, ever since, apart from appropriately eccentric departures for the shipping forecast. It is apt, too, that 700 clubs should already have promised to carry out fund-raising on behalf of the Brian Johnston Memorial Trust during 'Johnners Week' from June 21-29. Others wishing to support should ring 0171 224 1005.

Day 1

Gough sets the ball rolling as England's bowlers seize day

NOT since the dawn of Edward VII's reign has an Edgbaston Test crowd seen anything quite like the Australian total yesterday morning, when the first Test was only 19 overs old. Their score was 54 for eight and, although there was a recovery of sorts, England were on the way to victory, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins.

It is one thing to be offered a chance, quite another to take it. On a pitch which started a little damp but which will get harder to bat on if, as is likely, its fissures become splits, England took their opportunity superbly and finished a sensational, almost melodramatic opening day of the six-match series with a lead of 82 and seven wickets in hand.

Obeying the command from their captain and coach to pitch the ball up the key to their success yesterday as it has been to their failure in the past - Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick and Devon Malcolm cut through Australia's predictably vulnerable batting like scythes through thistles.

Despite a spirited counter-attack by Shane Warne, Australia were bowled out for 118 in the sixth over after lunch. This was heady excitement for a crowd of 19,000 and a nasty shock to those who had not read the portents. Offered at 3-1 against to win the game when the morning began, England were 1-4 on by lunchtime.

Although they in turn got into early difficulties, Graham Thorpe and Nasser Hussain, with strokeplay as bold as it was handsome, seized the moment still more admirably than the bowlers to take control of what looks suspiciously like another low-scoring Birmingham Test match. When Ken Barrington and Ted Dexter put on 161 for the fourth wicket in 1961, 11 more than Thorpe and Hussain have so far, pitches here were reliable. The way a ball from Michael Kasprowicz exploded from a length past Hussain's gloves 20 minutes from the close yesterday suggested that this one will be predictable only in its unpredictability.

England have some good batsmen still in hand but they will have to excel themselves today if the 12,000 who have bought tickets for Sunday are not to be examining the small print for details of how to get their money back.

It was swing rather than uneven bounce which mainly explained Australia's extraordinarily rapid demise, as Warwickshire, whose future as a Test ground is officially under threat, will be quick to argue. This, however, certainly does not look like one of the Edgbaston pitches which get slower and easier.

Jason Gillespie limped off before the close with a leg injury and already, with Andrew Bichel still struggling to recover from a bad back, there is talk of a replacement fast bowler, possibly Adam Dale. Such problems are often the lot of England sides when they are on tour. The worm may be turning.

By the time the third wicket fell yesterday, indeed, the beleaguered Mark Taylor was top scorer with seven and only three Australians subsequently did better. He had chosen boldly, but logically enough, to bat first, but a greenish tinge to the pitch and the heaviness of the air on a hot morning made it a good toss for Mike Atherton to lose.

He would also have batted but we shall never know whether Australia's bowlers would have used the thermals in the warm air so effectively as Gough in his incisive spell from the City End. His first ball having fizzed past Taylor's outside edge, he tried a few too many variations at first whilst Malcolm betrayed slight but understandable signs of nerves as he raced in at the all left-handed opening pair.

Gough's inswinger, bursting through Matthew Elliott's gate in the fifth over, was the first sign of the havoc to come. An over later Taylor drove handsomely past mid-off for four but Malcolm's next ball was pitched up too, a little wider, and Taylor's fast-footed drive succeeded only in slicing the ball to second slip, where Mark Butcher clung on safely to launch his Test career on the right note.

He had been given his cap shortly after the toss by Atherton, but Adam Hollioake had to wait for his. England were not to know that Mark Ealham would not be needed to bowl. Perhaps he might have if Gough had not produced the most important ball of the day, full of length again, to swing in and bowl Mark Waugh between bat and pad.

Gough rested after an eight-over spell of three for 18 and it was Caddick's turn, from the Pavilion End. He took time to shift his line to the off stump rather than outside it, perhaps because there were only two fielders on the legside, but once he did he reminded everyone of his ability to swing the ball away and bounce it above waist-height at a stinging pace. Steve Waugh got the thinnest of outside edges to a ball of just the right length and, next ball, Ian Healy, was drawn to play with equally fatal consequence.

Malcolm produced the ideal ball for Michael Bevan, across his bows and lifting to chest height, producing a simple catch to gully and leaving only the tail. It wagged bravely as Kasprowicz, riding his luck, helped Warne to double the score either side of lunch. Warne's keen eye, and the attacking field, enabled him to hit eight fours before he sliced to third man.

England had 56 overs to ram home their advantage. Atherton got a ball which lifted and left him a fraction in the third over and Butcher, after an encouragingly composed start, received an equally good ball to give Kasprowicz his first Test wicket. Alec Stewart struck the first blows in response before top edging a pull at a ball which was too far up for the stroke.

There was no further success for Australia. Thorpe had been dropped a place from the number four position which suits him best but he played beautifully from the outset and Hussain's calm defence had already blossomed into elegant control by the time Taylor called on Warne for the first time at 108 for three. This time there was no venom in his magic. Hitting him with impeccable timing off the back foot whenever he dropped short, Thorpe and Hussain left no possible doubt who was in charge.

Day 2

England pair make history and break Australian spirit

THERE were small signs of an Australian fightback yesterday, but not before England had enjoyed a second successive morning of virtual invincibility, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins.

On the same 22 yards on which Darren Gough and company had strutted their stuff 24 hours earlier, Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe extended their fourth-wicket partnership with such commanding batting that they added 135 more in only two hours.

Australia's plight was such that they might well have felt like offering terms to any one of the 12 RAF sky-divers who descended on to the square during the lunch interval, trailing puffs of orange smoke. In fact, they have sent officially for a fast-bowling replacement. Adam Dale, who swung the ball promisingly in one-day internationals in South Africa a few weeks ago, is likely to be preferred to Paul Reiffel, who was not selected in the first place because he was considered injury-prone.

England's progress thereafter was checked a little by the new ball and in particular by a determined spell of bowling by Michael Kasprowicz, but by the time the long-threatened rain arrived 10 overs after tea England were 331 ahead with four wickets in hand. The sheer assertiveness of the batting, the unfailing way in which Hussain and Thorpe hit the bad ball for four, has bought time and there would have to be a good deal of rain over the next three days for an embattled Australian team to escape from their predicament with a draw.

Thorpe pulled a gentle catch to mid-on five minutes after lunch after making his fifth and highest Test hundred and his third in four Test matches. Hussain made his highest score in any form of cricket, 12 months almost to the day since he re-established himself as a Test batsman after an absence of three years, and on the same ground. Together they added 288 and the style in which they did it was delightful.

This was classical batting, orthodox and artistic, the kind that captivates the imagination of the young. Hussain hit 38 fours, the great majority through extra cover with a grace his sister, a professional ballerina, could not have bettered. Thorpe, more inclined to work the ball, hit 19 fours.

A fast outfield, captain Mark Taylor's determination to keep striving for wickets, not to mention the honourable over-rate, suited them well. The rub of the green went with the batsmen here and there, as it does when things are going against a side in the field. Jason Gillespie did not take the field because of his torn hamstring, and in only the fourth over of the day Hussain, then 82, gained the benefit of only a scintilla of doubt in umpire Steve Bucknor's mind about the height of a ball from Glenn McGrath which cut back towards the middle stump as he padded it away.

The pitch, however, played truly enough and this and the half-chance to Michael Bevan off Gillespie when Thorpe had made 67 on Thursday evening were the only serious blemishes in a stand lasting nearly five hours. It was a highest Test score for both batsmen and their partnership far surpassed the previous fourth-wicket record for England against Australia, set as long ago as 1938 at Lord's by Wally Hammond and Eddie Paynter.

Thorpe and Hussain have always got on well off the field and on it their mental approach is equally determined, their destinies apparently linked. Four years ago, in Thorpe's first Test at Trent Bridge, they put on 150 in the second innings and Graham Gooch had the rare luxury, in that one-sided series, of declaring.

It was a match which England came close to winning, a false dawn, but Thorpe's hundred in his first Test - only two from any country have done it since - was no illusion and he has developed into the best batsman in England. Hussain probably matches him for sheer talent, but not as such a complete player. In his second incarnation as a Test batsman he has worked out a modus operandi. He has become a master in the art of patiently building an innings and the bigger the occasion the taller the building is likely to be. This, his fourth Test hundred, was also only his second fifty of the season, although he has tried every bit as hard, no doubt, for Essex.

John Crawley lasted only 13 balls before suffering the familiar fate of a batsman coming in after a long partnership, edging his 14th, an outswinger, to give Kasprowicz a well-deserved wicket in a new-ball spell of 11-4-26-1. But Hussain held his own, then took the sword to Shane Warne again, driving him for three fours in an over. Warne conceded 17 in all but he is no busted flush and he finally spun a leg-break sufficiently on the slow surface to take Hussain's outside edge.

Mark Ealham is a sensible cricketer and he played an entirely typical innings, watching every ball, playing it on its merits and hitting it hard when the chance arose. He had batted for more than two hours when the weather intervened and Robert Croft, no less sturdy, was starting to enjoy himself too. Talk of a possible declaration will already have started in England's dressing room and they will not expect to bat again before the second Test at Lord's.

England had to win this first Test to exploit the advantages of form and confidence with which they started. Their bowlers still have hard work ahead on a pitch which played sufficiently well yesterday to allay any further fears of retribution against Warwickshire. For the moment this is not yet even a battle won, let alone the war, but the doubters will have to believe now that the improvement is genuine.

Day 3:

Taylor's last stand slows England's victory charge

By Scyld Berry

Australia (118 & 256) trail England (479) by 105 runs

ALTHOUGH Mark Taylor proved a serious inconvenience to England in the short term yesterday, when they sought to finish off Australia a second time, there was pleasure for all concerned that the touring side's captain returned to some kind of batting touch.

As Taylor passed 50 in a Test match for the first time since December 1995, he justified his place in the Australian team after a long period in which his main contribution was his captaincy. In that time he had played 21 Test innings and heard his critics call with increasing stridency for his removal.

Taylor's dogged innings also found favour with everyone who likes to see the exhibition of bravery when an elite sportsman refuses to drown in a sea of troubles. Allan Border never buckled, but his predecessor, Kim Hughes, did, when confronted with adversities less hostile than Taylor's.

Some of Taylor's stroke-play off his legs was pleasing in its own right, as the Australian batsmen appreciated the absence of swing and seam which characterised the first day's play. In their first innings they had perished to a sequence of hard-wicket shots played in one-day mode, but yesterday, in reaction to a deficit of 360 runs, they reverted to the fighting spirit of Bill Lawry and Bobby Simpson, and of such older personifications of obduracy as Ponsford and Woodfull.

Matthew Elliott and Taylor made exactly the same contribution of 66 runs to Australia's opening stand of 133 that was compiled on either side of an hour's break for rain. Dusty when swept between innings, the pitch was pacified by the dampness, and even this first suggestion of a true surface was enough to bring out the best in some of Australia's batsmen.

Yet at the start Australia had been so resigned that they did not call upon Glenn McGrath or Shane Warne yesterday, neither of them at their best and both all too conscious that they are in danger of being used as stock bowlers. McGrath can look forward to the reinforcement of Paul Reiffel on Tuesday, but Warne has no one to spare him wear and tear as Michael Bevan is half a bowler in the first, damp half of a season.

The conditions on the third morning, as on the second, were almost ideal for not bowling wrist-spin. Bevan needs bounce in the pitch, that very quality which he so dislikes when he has a bat in hand, and it might be late in the series before he finds it. Not the least of Mike Gatting's contributions to English Test cricket over the last 20 years was his recommendation, after seeing the Warwickshire ground staff flooding the Edgbaston pitch a fortnight ago, that England should pack their final XI with seamers.

Kasprowicz picked up his first four Test wickets during the innings but still pitched too wide and short too often. Mark Ealham dazzled by hooking and driving him through extra cover to bring up his second Test fifty. Robert Croft, never keen on a bouncer, fended a lifter to Ian Healy and Darren Gough took a wild heave, but at least he was attacking, which made the right sort of change after a winter of profitless prodding. England's final scorecard reflected the unevenness of the pitch.

The preliminaries over, Australia began their second innings at 11.45am to a roar from the old Rea Bank stand, now the Eric Hollies, for long the most patriotic stand in English cricket. In the new mood even Andrew Caddick wore an England cap, not a sun hat, until the afternoon resumption; Australia's captain opted for the lightest roller.

This time Devon Malcolm had the strong wind behind him, and he began with the speed and control that he had promised. One or two bouncers were fierce for a pitch that is slow except when the ball takes off from tuft or crack. If Mark Waugh asserts that England's cricketers lack hunger, it was nevertheless with some appetite that they moved in on an animal wounded by the loss of Waugh and Jason Gillespie.

But the line of Gough and Malcolm was wrong to Taylor, who was completely in form when the ball was on his legs and completely out of it when it was on or outside his off stump. No bowler went round the wicket to him until Croft came on for the 11th over, his first of the series.

England, and Croft, could have had a wicket before the hour's loss to rain, when Elliott appeared to present silly point with a catch off pad and bat and almost walked. It was England's first instance of bad luck in this match.

There was some bad England bowling too, as Elliott and Taylor got away rather too rapidly. Not often has Mike Atherton been guilty of over-attacking with his fields, but he was - mildly, and briefly - in Australia's first innings when Warne was hitting; and again when Croft was given three close off-side catchers before he had settled into what is only his second home Test.

So the Australians scored freely and the crowd was forced to wait. Taylor pulled a six and four in Ealham's first over and went to the unfamiliar landmark of fifty to warm applause for his dignity in his troubles. This was also, not coincidentally, Australia's first opening century stand since Taylor's last fifty at the end of 1995.

Gradually England worked their way back and obtained some leverage over the opening Australians. Ealham settled at the City end and Gough started to pepper Taylor, in particular, with his full ration of two bouncers per over. The pressure built up on Australia, like the clouds that threatened a return.

It was Elliott who broke, shortly before the rain did. About his only notable defect is that he is a firm pusher at the ball, not soft-handed, but it was the accumulation of pressure rather than Croft's off-break which did for him. The crowd vented its relief when Elliott opened the face to steer an off-break that missed his bat altogther, as if he had been trying, like the young Bradman in the yard back home, to hit the ball with a side of his bat.

Taylor had to return to something near his best to survive Gough's probing on either side of tea. Twice in one over he outside-edged Gough for boundaries past or through England's slips. When he reached 42 Taylor recorded his 2,000th Test run against England in only his 23rd Test against the old enemy.

Croft teased Greg Blewett into coming down the pitch to drive him through a six-man off-side field, and Blewett did not blow it when he first accepted the challenge. Taylor moved on towards three figures as the voluble Saturday crowd, like the pitch, started to quieten. It might even suit England best in the long run that Taylor has lived to fight another Test.

Blewett even went down the wicket to straigt drive Croft for six after the Australians had passed 200 with one wicket down. Warwickshire will only lose their Test match if England do not win here.

Day 4:

Dashing England finish off Australia

ALL England supporters were agreed upon the ideal story before a ball was bowled in the Edgbaston Test: Mark Taylor to score a century; England to win, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins.

Taylor fulfilled the first desire with as heroic an innings, in terms at least of mental fortitude, as has ever been played. The second wish remained unrequited until late on the fourth day last night and for the greater part of a vivid and fluctuating weekend no one could be sure whether the cup would yet be dashed from English lips.

In the end England claimed the prize their outstanding cricket on the first two days had thoroughly earned, finally working their way through Australia's tenacious second innings of 477 75 minutes after tea and then racing to a nine-wicket victory in a blaze of strokes from Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart.

The batsmen played some fine shots, but also some hazardous ones and both had moments of luck as they hurried England to their third consecutive Test victory. Not since 1991-92, when England won four in a row against three different countries, have they managed that.

The result sets up the series perfectly. The favourites are one behind, but they played better as the match proceeded and there is no doubt that the match came too early in the tour for them. Incredibly, Australia have now played 18 Tests in succession without a draw in their absurdly over-crowded programme.

One up after the first of the six Tests, England's success had seemed virtually assured after the first two days. That it turned out to be anything but a formality was due to a combination of admirably determined, typically positive batting by Australia and a pitch which played far more comfortably than England's bowlers had hoped, or most had expected.

Steve Rouse, the Edgbaston groundsman, was almost as happy a man as Atherton last night. Warwickshire's Test future is assured and but for the dampish surface and atmosphere on the first day, this would probably have been a draw.

There was much honour in Australia's defeat. Taylor's innings, more than six-and-a-half hour's of intense defiance, has saved his Test career and such was the brilliant support he received from Greg Blewett in a partnership of 194 for the second wicket, it came very close to saving the match.

The contest was still in doubt when a mighty thunderstorm burst upon central Birmingham shortly before 3pm yesterday, at a point when Australia had climbed past their first innings deficit of 360 and established a lead of 43 with half their wickets gone.

When play began again after an early tea and a merciful change of barometric pressure - provision for an extra hour enabled all the lost time to be made up -Darren Gough took two of the wickets he had threatened to earn during an excellent spell 24 hours earlier. Ian Healy and Shane Warne put on 34 at a run a minute to keep Australia's fightback going and the issue was still in doubt when Atherton surprisingly took off his best bowler, Robert Croft, and turned to Mark Ealham.

The spell of medium-paced bowling which followed was not quite reminiscent of Ian Botham's famous match-concluding spell in 1981 here, but though Warne hit two long-hops for four in his first over, Ealham's next 10 balls produced figures of three for nought, sparked by a fine, low, catch in the gully by Atherton.

Having completed a solid second Test fifty before England's declaration on Saturday morning, Ealham could feel that he had contributed satisfactorily to a team performance which should delight all British cricketers from Lord MacLaurin to the humblest of village players.

An hour into yesterday's play it had begun to look as though the ending might be very different. Blewett and Taylor had despatched the new ball to all parts of the rapid outfield in making 59 from the first 12 overs and without Croft's probing off-spin, Atherton would have been a captain with nowhere to turn.

Croft's arrival as England's first top-class finger-spinner since John Emburey, but also as one with greater attacking potential in all conditions than that evergreen performer, has, I trust, ended any possibility of England ever trying to rely again on four fast bowlers and no spinner.

Croft had taken England's only wicket on Saturday, bowling Matthew Elliott after a good innings of 66 and an opening stand with Taylor of 133. Blewett, however, had batted boldly and attractively despite pain in his left knee and he and the sturdy captain prevented England from exploiting the absence of Mark Waugh in hospital with a stomach virus.

Taylor and Blewett resumed at 256 for one, still 104 runs behind. England took the new ball immediately and while Taylor settled in again with the intention of batting all day if he could, Blewett charmed a crowd of more than 15,000 with a series of copybook attacking strokes. Some of his fierce hooks and full-blooded drives through extra cover yesterday will have reminded older watchers of Sir Donald Bradman. The baggy green cap, the bent front knee and the bat flowing through over the shoulder seem to rise from the covers of a dozen treasured cricket books.

But Croft also has old-fashioned skills and he turned the game again with a spell which began with 13 overs for 14 runs and two wickets. Andrew Caddick supported him well at a time when disciplined line and length were essential. The fast bowlers had tended to repeat their errors of the previous day, giving Blewett too much width. They were also frustrated by Taylor's refusal to play at anything wide of the off stump.

At last, in the 19th over of the day, Taylor was beaten in the air as he moved out to drive Croft and chipped a return catch. Three overs after lunch the Welshman followed up by claiming Blewett at silly point off his front pad and back of his bat, paving the way for Gough's crucial spell with the wind from the pavilion end.

Michael Bevan, brilliant cricketer as he is, must be in doubt for the Lord's Test after failing in both innings to deal with the quick ball fired at his chest from over the wicket. He spliced to gully again and in his next over Gough produced a spitting ball which Mark Waugh, unwell though he was, was good enough to touch.

The storm which followed shortly afterwards was the prelude to a heady final session. ``The Ashes are coming home,'' was the chant which followed from a triumphalist crowd. Perhaps so, but not for a long time yet.

Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)