Trent Bridge, Day 1, lunch
Thursday, August 2, 2001

This morning was very much the same as the first session of the series at Edgbaston. England were positive, played their shots, went along at nearly four an over, and the morning ended pretty much 50-50. Maybe Australia were just in front after taking that third wicket, but the next session is going to be crucial.

I don't go for this theory that has been in the press that England should be grinding it out. If you sit back on bowlers as good as McGrath, Gillespie, Lee and particularly Shane Warne, they'll put you under pressure, they'll have more and more men round the bat, and eventually you'll get an unplayable ball. You've got to challenge these Australians a bit, and that's what Marcus Trescothick has done this morning with his pull and hook shots. It's a simple philosophy but it works.

People ask me if he reminds me of myself, and he does a little bit. He looks to pull, as I used to try to, and that makes the bowler pitch it up. The difference is that I didn't play the big cover or square drive this early in an innings. I think that's a weakness of his, and after lunch the Australians will try and bowl wider and wider to him, to tempt him into that. the straight drive is fine, but the sqauer drive is a risk early on when the ball is moving around.

I wasn't surprised that Mike Atherton chose to bat. After being sent in twice by Steve Waugh, he would have been tempted to say "You have a bat", but he looked at the wicket and decided that England's best chance is to bowl last and set Australia a target, which I think is right. He was right not to take too much notice of the rain that was forecast - I don't believe you can play the weather too much. The wicket's got grass on it but it's fairly dry and will get more up-and-down as the game goes on, and take turn.

The key is to make a big score batting first: if you make 300, you're always right in the game. England need to get some runs out of the middle order, especially Alec Stewart who hasn't got many in this series, or against Australia in previous series. And they need someone to make a hundred - that's Trescothick's job.

Mark Taylor was talking to Tim de Lisle. His comments will appear three times a day throughout the third Test

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