If these last two warm up matches have told us anything, then it's that this series is going to be very close, England should forget all the banter and the hype over Panesar (it's all mind games) - and Austraia would be better putting pressure on England on the pitch (That's where it counts).

DS Lehmann run out 99 - now that's hard luck - in a 143 balls.

EDIT: Last update - going to bed. England 278 - 4 - Bell 129(flanflinger and Rachael- will be insufferable) and Pietersen 31.

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Ern

Good day for England.Great to see Bell an Collingwood get some runs as it means that all the top 6 have now got some time in the middle at various stages of the build up,just need a 30 or 40 from Jones and we are well set for the test match.

As far as getting better each game to peak for a test it couldn't have gone any better so far.Just hope we don't play like wallies in Brisbane.

One thing to note,Tait has bowled 4 balls of one over and Harris the other 2.I wonder who got injured?

What a magnificent innings by Bell and by Collingwood!!! well fought back england at one point they were down by three wickets early. Bell has rescued the day with collingwood.

Someone gave me this link, apparently hoggard is doing a video ashes diary.. funny stuff with his camera phone... shows monty playing pool as well check it out

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/sport

click on the banner and it will open up a streaming link.. or you can use the itunes option and subscribe to it.. has 3 episodes so far good stuff!!

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Tait left the field just before the close of play... but not before bowling himself out of a possible place the first Test: just compare the figures...

Rachael with respect all you seem to think of is econ rate, how can Tait have bowled himself out of the first Test when he took 3 wickets @ an average of 22.

If we apply that sort of logic, neither Strauss nor Cook will be playing in the first Test either, but we all know they will.

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Ern

First up... one of those wickets was Hoggard.... so in real money that's 2/65 rather than 3/65 (and let's note a fortuitous second ball that got Strauss before he'd got his eye in and Bell finally falling only after he had got his ton and was starting to slog).

Second up.... if the guy the other end can bowl 2/27 instead of 2/65 (and off the same number of overs, and picking up top order batsmen of the callibre of Cook and Pietersen after they have played themselves in) one is left with the overwhelming impression of a HUGE gulf in class (something further evidenced by the fact that the guy sent his opening ball of the the innings through first slip).

Control may not be everything in Test cricket.... but on modern pitches it's by far the biggest part of the game (especially in Australia, where the new ball and second new ball present a chance to take wickets but where, in between, even the best attacks are largely reliant on wickets being gifted). Wickets obviously help... but not least because they slow the opposition down.... but if you can keep the opposition to no more than 250 runs per day on every day.... the wickets will follow and you should win the series.

I believe Fletcher has rammed this home to the England camp: sides that bowl tidily (and a lot of maidens) win matches. Conversely... bowling like Tait costs matches. Just look at the example of Edgbaston in the last Ashes series: Lee was atrocious and went at 6.5 an over; Kasprowicz was almost as bad and went at 5.3; Gillespie was poor and went at over 4 an over. By tea the game was all but over: England were at 284/4... Warne did manage a late flurry of wickets on that opening day.... but the wayward seamers meant this was too late: he should have started that session with the game poised at 170/4 not 284/4!!!!

ps. If Watson is out that almost certainly means no Tait: the Aussies know Tait is too much of a liability as part of a balanced attack - he only plays if they can provide cover for when he goes AWOL.

^ ^ ^

Er, why would you base your opinion of Shaun Tait's chances on one innings?

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What we have been is what we are

Surely the point about this innings is that it confirms the validity long standing concerns: Tait has been known as a liability since he appeared to try and set an all-time worst-ever bowling record in county cricket... but in all the hype and nonsense that surrounds an Ashes tour we had been hearing suggestions that he's now better - well, he's perhaps better... but still not a match for Gillespie!

I would rather have a bowler who gives 6 an over and takes 3 wickets in 5 overs then someone who gives 2 an over and takes 1 wicket in his spell. Waqar Yunis and Shoaib Akhter were always expensive, but look at what they have done for pakistan, when on their day, they destroyed the opposition. Thats what Tait can do.

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Wasim Akram was a better bowler than either Waqar Younis or Shoaib Akhtar... and this is reflected in his economy rate: