England lose initiative on first day of decisive Test

Fifth Test, Day One: England 307/8. England endured a frustrating day yesterday at the Oval in the final Test of the Ashes series, seeming to get on top of the Australians but never breaking free of some tight line and length bowling.

Three batsmen made good starts, with captain Andrew Strauss playing beautifully for his 55 until he played a loose shot after lunch to end a solid second-wicket partnership of 102 with Ian Bell. Bell then impressed with 72, before falling to his first ball after the tea interval. New boy Jonathan Trott scored 41, and Stuart Broad is unbeaten on 26.

The pick of the Australian bowlers was Peter Siddle, who bowled with intelligence and venom for his four wickets, including inducing a lazy edge from Graeme Swann off the last ball of the day, while Mitchell Johnson deceived both Matt Prior and Andrew Flintoff into playing at wide balls. Simon Katich's outstanding reactions did for Trott, as the Aussie opener threw down the stumps from short leg.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Mike Selvey, the Guardian: "England failed to take the full advantage they would have felt they gained having won the toss, although they may feel they have a working total, with 350 challenging. By lunchtime the footholes had kicked out and by mid afternoon the pacemen were breaking through the surface on occasions. The seam will bite in such conditions. When North came on, he found immediate turn. There are signs of erratic bounce. So the shame is that England did not feel sufficiently confident to back two spinners, sticking instead to a seam-based attack, with Flintoff back and Steve Harmison retaining his place at the expense of Graham Onions."

Derek Pringle, Daily Telegraph: "Chances to nail the Aussies to the floor don’t come around often and England’s batsmen flunked theirs at the Oval on Thursday, finishing the opening day on 307 for eight. Whether it will cost them the Ashes depends on how many runs Stuart Broad can eke from the tail on Friday and how well the bowlers perform on a dry pitch where the ball is already bursting the surface. Australia will have to bat last and that could be a tough prospect after day three. Yet it could have been even tougher still had England taken better advantage of winning the toss against opponents who, in leaving out off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, have picked the wrong team for the conditions."

Mike Atherton, the Times: "You cannot win a Test on Day One, Andrew Strauss said before the match, failing to add the coda that you can certainly lose one. To judge from the nervy atmosphere that pervaded the Brit Oval throughout yesterday, the crowd watching in a kind of silent, fraught, nail-biting way from first ball to last that was in stark contrast to the wild triumphalism of 2005, it was a fear that was never far away. It is England’s batting line-up minus Kevin Pietersen that is the cause of the nervousness, and it was England’s batting line-up minus Pietersen that was under the spotlight yesterday."

Colin Newman, Daily Mail: "Whisper it quietly but could Surrey groundsman Bill Gordon have handed England the perfect opportunity to again spark scenes of wild celebration at The Brit Oval some time over the next four days? This, we were told, would be a typical Oval pitch, offering pace and bounce and then turn as the fifth npower Test reached its fourth day. Instead it is a surface so conducive to a result, and quickly, that it could help England win the Ashes even though they did their best yesterday to throw the urn away. This, simply, is a spin bowler’s dream, a pitch so dry and dusty that Shane Warne could barely sit still in his commentator’s seat during a first day when several deliveries went through the surface and even part-timer Marcus North gained prodigious turn. It was enough to make the great leg-spinner rue the day he retired." ·