Australia enjoy slight lead

I've not watched a ball of the first Test between Australia and India so far. Actually, that's a lie, Sky in my hotel room here in Spain have shown one ball, the one in which Tendulkar prodded forward at Mitchell Johnson and was caught at point for 13. Guess Lara's record is safe for another day, then.

No doubt plenty of you have been following the series while I've been struggling to find my sea legs on a boat bobbing up and down in 28mph winds here in Alicante (I managed to keep control of my lunch but it was a close-run thing and even now in my hotel the walls are moving up and down). So let me know what I've missed.

It appears to have been Mitchell Johnson's day, with four wickets. Let's face it, he was the paceman we still had a few doubts about. Brett Lee is closing in fast on 300 Test wickets and Stuart Clark has been almost as reliable as Glenn McGrath, although his stats look mediocre today. I did wonder if an two-man attack (plus supersub Michael Clarke, who has the knack of taking Indian wickets) would be enough, but it looks like Mitch has stepped up to the plate well. No wicket on debut yet for Cameron White, has he looked remotely threatening?

And can India, with two wickets in hand and a deficit of 117, reduce the gap enough to give Kumble and Harbhajan something to lick their fingers about in the second innings? I'm surprised that Zaheer came in ahead of Kumble, who is close to 2,500 Test runs, but Zaheer has batted very well so far and if these two can add 30 together - and Ishant Sharma is no slouch at No 11 - then this could be an interesting second phase of the Test.

Comments

[Peter McGuinness]

You will find that Mitch Johnson is well and truly Test quality, Patrick.

Watson and White are not. I hope they prove me wrong. Watson is too soft for Tests at this point and White simply has not got a game beyond the hit and giggle.

Symonds and Clarke are by far and away Australia's best slow options, despite selectors tooling around, trying to pull rabbits from hats. The 3 front line bowlers are top notch. Clarke, Katich and Symonds with the added bonus of medium skidders (had he been there) would have been enough for the rest. The pitch is deteriorating almost as badly as the home team's scruples.

That said, neither team may have the bite to get 20 wickets. Great game. Not great for cricket. Pity about the usual undignified soccer tantrums and childish accusations. Maybe India should just play itself and enjoy all it's own drama in-house, without spreading the love to the rest of us. Can we make the Border-Gavaskar Trophy a decennial series please?