Trent Bridge Test, Day 1, close
Thursday, August 2, 2001

My word! What a great session of Test cricket. When Australia were 48 for 0, everyone had their pens ready to write the same old story, but England made a really good comeback.

Their bowlers didn't start all that well. Gough and Caddick's first spells were OK, but the person who turned it round was Alex Tudor. He got Hayden out, and he showed what line and length you should bowl on this pitch - he didn't swing the ball much or do a lot with it, but he kept it on or about off stump and made the batsmen play. He put the brakes on Australia's scoring, getting them down from four an over to about two and a half. At that stage England bowled seven maidens out of 12 I think it was, which applied pressure, and the wickets followed.

Even though 17 wickets have fallen already, I haven't revised my view of the pitch. There's a bit in it for the bowlers, but only for the ones who put the ball in the right area, as Glenn McGrath did. If you don't bowl well, like Brett Lee early in the day, there are runs in it too.

The difference with England this evening was the way they hung in there, especially against the Waugh brothers. Steve and Mark batted for about 40 minutes without really scoring a run - I think they put on 13 in nine overs. England never let them get away as they did in the first two Tests. Then they got the breakthrough, and all of a sudden they got three more. That's Test cricket: it's no good bowling well for 20 minutes, you've got to keep it up for a whole session, or in this case a good hour and a half.

Mike Atherton handled it very well. He made one adjustment from Lord's, which was to go on the defensive earlier. He didn't have a man in at short leg, he gave his bowlers good cover and relied on them to take wickets the conventional way. Both Waughs were caught at first slip, which is how most batsmen get out.

He did a very good job switching his bowlers. The only thing I would have done differently is I would have tried Croft late in the day when he brought White on. But he gave him a go and then took him off straightaway when he saw that Mark Waugh was handling him quite comfortably. He brought Tudor back and immediately got the wicket. It's a great effort by England and now Australia will be happy if they can just get close to England's total, so they can start again at 0 for 0 in the second innings.

Mark Taylor, the winning captain in the past three Ashes series, was talking to Tim de Lisle More Mark Taylor
England right to attack- lunch
Put it down to great fast bowling- tea

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