Headingley Test, Day 2, Tea
Friday, August 17, 2001

England's openers have batted well. They've let the balls go that weren't quite on target, and played their shots too. Raising the 50 off 18 overs without losing a wicket was a fine effort.

But they did lose a wicket, because that edge definitely carried to Mark Waugh. I wouldn't have walked if I'd been Marcus Trescothick, but it's asking too much of a TV camera which is about 80 metres away to come up with a perfect three-dimensional picture of an incident like that.

The players will have to lead the way on decisions like this - they will have to stamp an opinion and stop the use of technology in incidents like this. They need to decide that they'll believe the fielder if he says he caught it cleanly. And then, if someone claims a catch that TV conclusively shows wasn't out, he will have a big problem explaining himself to the other players.

England have done very well since lunch. Their bowling was quite good, although you might say that that was too much too late. They seamed it and swung it, and got the Australians playing false shots. That's not a coincidence.

After England wrapped up the innings I thought that Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie would come out and do some damage themselves. But they haven't quite bowled the right length either, although they have been more consistent than England were yesterday - just short of the right length. If the bowlers pitch it up a couple of inches then they'll be right.

Ian Healy made a record 395 dismissals in 119 Tests for Australia, and was on the winning side in the last six Ashes series. His comments will appear on Wisden.com at the end of every session for the rest of the series. He was talking to Steven Lynch

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Time for the impact ball - Lunch

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