Siddle's Swingers - Day One at Brisbane

In the day or so leading up to the test there had been much talk of the questionable wisdom of the selection of Peter Siddle over Doug Bollinger. Correspondents to the cricinfo comments section, not usually the most balanced group it must be said, were of the opinion that this selection betrayed the inner turmoil of the Australians (although not always expressed quite like that), with some suggesting that Australia might as well hand over the urn now. I wouldn’t have gone that far but am quite relieved that I never got round to writing the blog post that I had planned, since I would have got it horribly wrong.

Don’t misunderstand me – I admire Siddle as a bowler. He bowled pretty well in England last year, particularly at Headingley, and I like his attitude, but I would have seriously questioned the wisdom a) of omitting Doug Bollinger and b) replacing him with a man who has hardly played for getting for a year because of injury. Just shows how much I know.

Until Siddle produced his mid-afternoon burst, England had been progressing reasonably serenely. Strauss will be disappointed at how he got out and both Pietersen and Trott will feel that they had done the hard work but failed to deliver, but Alastair Cook and Ian Bell were progressing fairly easily and a decent score looked on the cards. Up to that point, the Australian seamers had looked pretty toothless, but Siddle got his length right, moved the ball just enough and swung the game Australia’s way.

Having written the other day that England were good at toughing things out it is, perhaps, inevitable that I would be proven wrong, although only Matt Prior should be really disappointed with his dismissal, a wafty drive at a good ball. In the event, a shell shocked England did pretty well to reach 260, a below par but not catastrophic score, thanks to some more fine batting from Ian Bell.

England will be disappointed that none of the batsmen who got starts went on to make big scores, an all too familiar failing of late. Bell can be exonerated since he was trying, selflessly, to score runs with the tail, but the others should be looking to put things right in the second innings. As for Australia, Siddle bowled beautifully, but Hilfenhaus was no more than steady and Johnson was, once again, an expensive mess. He seems undroppable, but surely he must be looking over his shoulder at Doug Bollinger. Xavier Doherty had a tidy debut, picking up two late wickets, but did little to suggest that he will have much of a bearing on the series.

England need a big day tomorrow. They’re capable of it, but will Australia let them?