Day 1 second Test, The Gabba + a fun England XI

Well the day started well enough with a slap up lunch and some good pre Test discussion from David Gower, Glenn Mcgrath, Mark Waugh and Jonathan Agnew, hosted by Damien Fleming 

So we got to the ground okay in high anticipation of a good day's play.

The three musketeers, Davis, Bramley & Dutton at their seats high up in the stands

Panoramic pic from our seating position it was a great view of the whole of the pitch

The opening ceremony

A brief snapshot of some action

It was all a bit glum when we were 5-2, or 2-5 if you insist, with Duckett and Pope both going for nought. I thought Zak Crawley showed som good mental toughness coming in off a pair and making 76, but then getting out to a loose shot off the trundler Neser. He really should've converted his score to a ton.

Harry Brook again disappointing. When he came in he had one job: to stay in and support Joe Root by keeping the scoreboard ticking over, but he couldnt do that, because he's a flashing blade and that is his sole style of play. Let's see how he goes on the rest of the tour, but unless he learns to appreciate the game situation when he goes into bat, I would suggest that he be dropped from the Test side for our summer 2026, and let him devote his talent to captaining the white ball team ( I recognise I'm in the minority on this one based on the WhatsApp poll I put out to the group!)

Stokes made the wrong call for a quick single (and anyway it wasn't his call) and Root was quite right to refuse the run as he was running to the danger end. It turned out to be a very dangerous end indeed , with Stokes well out of his ground with  with some brilliant fielding by Inglis, followed up by a direct hit aiming at one stump. pure cricket drama that.

Smith got a Jaffa from Boland for the third nought of the innings, but the mighty Joe kept going....

What a privilege to have witnessed his maiden Ashes Test hundred in Australia. I was unhappy that many of the Aussie supporters didn't feel the need to stand and applaud his achievement (as we all did for Travis Head in the last Test). And then the Aussies clearly didn't want to bat in the night session, by messing with the field and helmets coming on and off etc.

Of course we have to talk about the Joff - hitting Starc for six was just pure joy to watch. and they're both still there, but I predict it wont last long this morning, but lets see...

While I'm here, by popular request is our England XI of players with 4 or less letters in their family name

1. Alistair Cook (c)

2. Jason Roy

3. Ian Bell

4. Joe Root

5. Ollie Pope (wk)

6. Allan Lamb

7. Moeen Ali 

8. Phil Salt

9. Dominic Cork 

10. Mark Wood. 

11. Josh Hull.