Pulverising start

Cardiff. The first Ashes Test - day one

Preview

I just hope that the decision by the ECB - the England and Wales Cricket Board here of course - to hold this important match on a ground making its Test debut does not rebound on the team. Defeat for England here would send out so many and varied messages and cause such a war of words that whether the board did it to spread the game or to trouser £3m will hardly matter.

This Australian side is their weakest since 1985 and the sooner they are told so the easier it will be for England to win back the Ashes. Then they can open a new era based on the young ones backing up Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen - Alistair Cook, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad and James Anderson.It is a bigger opportunity than 2005 and all they need to back their own efforts is a mighty chorus from the Barmy Army, a force dreaded by authority but crucial if England are to prosper.

To lunch
To mark the arrival of Test cricket in Wales the day began with a short Eisteddfod: Land of My Fathers, God Save the Queen, Advance Australia Fair and Jerusalem. As much music as at Jacko's funeral.

For the next two hours the funeral theme kept recurring. Andrew Strauss won the toss, Ricky Ponting admitted, crestfallen that he would have batted. Alistair Cook was first out to a flying catch in the gully by Mike Hussey. Ravi Bopara began nervoously but Strauss managed to field the strike so that it looked as if the Australians had missed their way. Bopara settled, produced a searing stroke to mid-wicket for four but then Strauss on 30 hooked and was caught by Michael Clark at first slip. Bopara, seeming to be going well at 35, skied the ball to gully. Both fell to Mitchell Johnson and his left-arm sling shot so that at lunch England were an unsatisfactory 97-3 and Australia chuckled all the way to the pavilion.

I suspect first Test nerves played a part and it may be that Kevin Pietersen's stop-go start unsettled Bopara.

To tea

We all missed Shane Warne in the second session. Warne would have bowled cleverly on this slow pitch and he would probably have dismissed Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood. The man who needed him most was Ricky Ponting. Surely Warne would not have remained silent while Ponting allowed Nathan Hauritz and Michael Clark bowled together.

Pietersen and Collingwood just batted until the seriously bad ball came along. In contrast Ponting applied no pressure while they took the score to 194-3 and laid the foundation for a respectable score. It was a reminder of their great stand in Adelaide two years ago.

I have often wondered how Australia overturned their Test defeat at home with a win in South Africa. This afternoon's lacklustre bowling and captaincy have made the answer no clearer and I found myself wondering if Ponting had decided his team could not win and was simply determined to get through the series with as little damage to his reputation as possible.

To close

Collingwood received the best ball of the day and KP, the daft lad, played the worst shot since 1877 before Matt Prior and Andrew Flintoff raced along at a run a ball. Flintoff played on, Prior got another decent ball and at the end England on 336-7 were marginally on top.

Australia will feel they ought to have capitalised on a pitch that brought regular swing; every England batsman got a start and someone - Pietersen what in the name of decency were you thinking about trying to sweep a ball two feet outside the off stump? - should have made a century. KP for instance.

But if, as I suspect, this is going to be a low-scoring match, England have the edge and, bless 'em all, it has been a pulverising beginning.