For a while during the first Ashes test match it felt like I was back in Australia like 07/08 watching us get hammered by the Aussies, but for a few hours on Sunday night we pulled off a great escape when it looked almost certain to be a lost cause. If it wasn’t for Collingwood we wouldn’t have got there, if more of the top order had his determination and cool-headedness we wouldn’t have been there in the first place. Still, a dramatic end after what was a slow to get started Test Match in what we hope will be a great Ashes series.

The batting was a real worry, as Ponting said, there was nothing in the pitch as they showed by scoring 670 before declaring. Maybe it’s the tenseness of a the first Ashes test, maybe the England guys believed some of the hype that the Aussie bowling attack was weak but it just looked like the Australians wanted it more. Bowling wise Broad and Swann didn’t have good games but they cannot be dropped despite one newspaper hack calling for Broad to be dropped. They just need to go with clear heads into the next test, maybe with better plans for each of the Australian batsmen and an additional seamer in for Panesar (we don’t need two spinners at Lord’s) and we can bounce back from this.