Oval Test, Day 1, Tea
Thursday, August 23, 2001

It's been good batting from the Australians this afternoon. The openers combined really well – they rotated the strike and didn't allow the bowlers to settle. And they hit the ball in different areas too, which made it hard to set a field. Ricky Ponting has continued that after a sketchy time right at the start of his innings.

I'm not sure whether Hayden and Langer will become a settled opening partnership. It depends on quite what the philosophy is over the Slater dropping, and the Australians are keeping that close to their chests. But Langer will be thinking to himself that it's hard to drop a bloke who's just scored a hundred.

Phil Tufnell hasn't bowled as bad as his figures [14-0-63-1] suggest. He's pulled it back after an untidy start. He likes long spells, and as he got into it he was mixing things up nicely, trying over and around the wicket. It wasn't easy – he had a lot to contend with when the batsmen were sweeping him and then driving him down the ground.

It was a big ask expecting James Ormond to bowl spin as well as swing on his first day in Test cricket, although I suppose it was worth a bash. Colin Miller, Australia's Mr Versatile, doesn't often try to bowl his two different styles in the same spell. It was good to see Ormond come back and bowl quicker again, although he needs to get it up there just a bit more.

Both sides thought hard about including a second spinner, but I don't think either Miller or Robert Croft would have done much damage. So I think it was probably right to go in with the attacks they've chosen, and try to mix in a few overs from a part-time spinner like Mark Waugh or Ormond.

So far the pitch has confirmed what I said about it at lunchtime. Australia will be keen to score 400-450, and make England work hard to avoid the follow-on. By about the middle of the third day I think the wicket will be roughing up and dusting up. Gee! It's not going to be much fun batting on Saturday.

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 of the Oval Test. He was talking to Steven Lynch.

More Ian Healy
A good toss to win – Lunch

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd