Wello's Ashes Blog

When the first ball of the entire series from your premier fast bowler ends up in the safe hands of Freddie Flintoff at 2nd slip, you might think this is cause for celebration. Unfortunately, instead of catching the edge of Matthew Hayden's bat, Steve Harmison's opening salvo landed on the pitch adjacent to the strip designated for this test match and, to general astonishment, carried on its merry way 10 feet wide of where it was intended.

Thus the 2006/7 series got underway with the widest delivery in Ashes history and that set the tone for a below-par performance from England on a belter of a Gabba wicket. Without ever putting England's attack to the sword, Ricky Ponting and the Australian top 5 cemented a formidable position for the hosts against some moderate England seam bowling. Harmison, Matthew Hoggard and James Anderson were all below their best and the 15,000 England fans present were indebted to Captain Freddie Flintoff, who bowled with pace and accuracy throughout the day.

Ashley Giles proved his critics wrong with an excellent holding role and despite the lack of penetration in their bowling, England kept going in the heat with Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen in particular full of energy and verve in the field. The Barmy Army tried to do their bit too, though some clever ticket allocation by the Queensland club has spread the British support throughout the huge Gabba stadium, preventing the concentration of vocal England fans that did so much to lift the team in last years series.

England will need to bowl well tomorrow morning and then bat for a long time in their first innings, something they should be able to do since the pitch is so true. My biggest concern is our reliance on Flintoff - he is far and away our best bowler but he can't do it all by himself and needs support at the other end to sustain the pressure on the Aussie batsmen that was such a key part of England's success in 2005.

England are still in this match.....just.

Wello