Australia v England, 5th Test - Day 1

It doesn't happen often but if you devote yourself to cricket in the same maniacal way I am accused of doing, every once and a while you see a bloke debut and you just know you are glimpsing the future of Australian cricket. I had that pleasure today, as Usman Khawja was forced to make four starts to his Test batting career thanks to rain breaks and yet did so with great assurance. Other things happened on a day which promised a great deal, much of it rain, but delivered a quiet reminder that whilst Australia is in transition and England are in ascendancy, new avenger will be be born.

We walked our relaxed stroll down to the ground from our digs on Moore Park Rd, past the football stadium and the first of several marvellous bronze statues of greats from football and cricket who have been strategically placed outside and inside the grounds in order to remind patrons of the past and in doing so, assure them of the sporting future of this place. We watched first the Australians and then the English go through their warm up routines, both with moments of inspiration.

For the Australians the high point of the pre-match activities were the presentation of Baggy Greens made by Shane Warne to Michael Beer and Mark Taylor to an obviously emotionally moved Usman Khawaja. From there it descended into the mundane stretches, throwing and catching exercises. For England, they started with a master stroke of PR and one upmanship but having the squad make a slow circuit of the ground, jogging in combinations of forward, backward and sideways light running past appreciative crowds who stood, cheered and clapped as the Englishmen moved past. Meanwhile, Australia worked away on the inside of the field to no applause. Even the sound and vision of Ashes highlights projected on the scoreboards had a heavy English success bias in its recent retelling.

New skipper Michael Clarke - moving from Pup to Big Dog today - was on the pitch 9 minutes early for the toss in blazer and cap and promptly won at his first attempt, opting to bat. Hughes and Watson were worked over by the Englishmen, having many balls shave the outside edge and many more left pass by deliberately. Despite not scoring freely, they built a useful start and looked to be going to lunch unbeaten when Hughes had one of those little brain explosions he does and compulsively slashed a ball outside off stump. Collingwood accepted the gift at third slip and a session which might have been won was only shared. Hughes had batted with restraint, control and common sense and mixed among there were some delicious shots - a back foot off drive the most sumptuous but he again let his supporters down with a failure to keep charge of his impetuosity.

Having waited the 40 minutes over lunch, Watson led the new boy Khawaja to the middle and he made a dynamic start with 15 from his first ten deliveries. His second ball was pulled in front of square for a four stamped with authority. He has lovely footwork, soft hands and plays late and with plenty of wrist like most players from the subcontinent and yet, he was in Australia as a 4 year old, leaving the nature v nurture debate with new material.

Watson batted well against a concerted English attack whose only fault was to bowl a tad short, despite their accuracy. Anderson delivered his best performance of the summer but bowled without the luck needed for a bag of wickets. Watson eventually played to hard at a ball from Bresnan and was snaffled in the slips and cost himself another big score. He has been so very consistent without putting big runs on the board around which the middle order can build a big team score.

After the first rain break, Clarke came and went with angled bat and thrusting forward defence, still cutting without transferring the weight fully to the back foot and therefore putting enough air under the ball for Anderson to snare the gully catch. The skipper has technical problems which stem from a lower stance cause by his back problems and it is to that he should focus his attention to recover form.

Finally, unluckily, Khawaja was suckered by an old English pro, when Swann returned after earlier bowling a few tight overs. A skied sweep which got out of control marked his end but it was a debut full of merit and promise. This lad has the mark of greatness about him.

Australia finished behind England for the day's work, despite good efforts from Hughes, Watson and Khawaja and that pretty much reflects the difference we have seen all summer. Despite this, it was a glorious day of Test cricket mainly because we were there. The crowd, the drama, the atmosphere ... thanks Bill!