T1D1 - Australia 346-3 (Ponting 137*, Langer 82, Martyn 63*)

Not, as they say, the best of starts. Harmison's first ball, described by one paper as 'not so much wide as obese', slanted across into the hands not of the keeper, or first slip, but the huge paws of skipper Flintoff at second. It didn't improve much from there, sadly.

On the plus side, Flintoff, looking like he'd never been away, trying in his typical Boys' Own manner to wrest the game back from Ponting's men single-handed. Surprisingly, too, a leaner, meaner looking Ashley Giles, who only the most heartless could describe as a wheelie bin this time round. And Pietersen, making up for a home Ashes series in which five catches came his way and not one stuck, pouching the first chance he got, Langer's slash at point.

More mystifying, though? Pietersen bowling offspin. Better than one might expect, to be fair, but if England were that desperate, where in God's name was Panesar? Monty definitely looks like he might have taken a wicket or two on a pitch where KP could turn it square. To cap it off, Bell bowling. And Harmison so out of sorts he didn't turn his arm over at all from the middle of the afternoon session on, to the extent that Freddie and Hoggard took the new ball.

To be fair? It's a belter of a batting track, and 300+ for 3 is about where an on-form England would be expected to be about now. Ponting's looking an ominously good bet for top scorer of the series, though, and England need quick wickets before the Aussie first innings total gets to the kind of daunting where the follow-on target looks dicey. And it may turn for Warney by day 3.

Still, as the irrepressible Phil Tufnell would undoubtedly say, it's early doors yet. It is only day one of the first Test, and, if last summer's anything to go by? It's going to be a long series.