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heaps of pommy scorn all spring and summer.many are predicting a pommie whitewash. before we factor in english summer rain i think the aussies will give a good account of themselves. batsmen and bowlers both need to standup. geoffrey boycott said the batsmen put you in a position to win and bowlers finish it off. simples. Ricky Ponting stills predicts a 2-1 triumph to us.Ian Botham has predicted a 10-0 whitewash to the poms.
england are a well balanced team. trott is pick of their batters at the moment. anderson their top bowler.throw in prior, cook, kp, broad, swann and panesar to name a few and you can see why they won in india whilst we got smashed there.

Win the toss and bat would be a good start. Pitch is very dry apparently

First Ashes Test: Trent Bridge details

Probable teams

England A N Cook (c), J E Root, J L Trott, K P Pietersen, I R Bell, J M Bairstow, M J Prior (wk), G P Swann, S C J Broad, J M Anderson, S T Finn.

Australia S R Watson, C J L Rogers, D A Warner, M J Clarke (c), B J Haddin (wk), P W Siddle, M A Starc, J L Pattinson, N M Lyon, E J M Cowen. P J Hughes.

Umpires Aleem Dar (Pak) and Kumar Dharmasena (S Lanka)

Weather Cloudy and cool with some sunshine. Maximum temp: 19C

Pitch report Bone dry, should be full of runs but should also offer reverse swing and may break up early to bring spinners into play.

First Test odds England win 4-5; Australia win 3-1; Draw 3-1.

Television Sky Sports Ashes, 10.00-19.00

Ashes series fixtures

First Test 10-14 - Trent Bridge

Second 18-22 July - Lord's

Third 1-5 August - Old Trafford

Fourth 9-13 August - Chester-le-Street

Fifth 21-25 August - The Oval

joan trieste wrote: First Ashes Test: Trent Bridge details

Probable teams

England A N Cook (c), J E Root, J L Trott, K P Pietersen, I R Bell, J M Bairstow, M J Prior (wk), G P Swann, S C J Broad, J M Anderson, S T Finn.

Australia S R Watson, C J L Rogers, D A Warner, M J Clarke (c), B J Haddin (wk), P W Siddle, M A Starc, J L Pattinson, N M Lyon, E J M Cowen. P J Hughes.

Umpires Aleem Dar (Pak) and Kumar Dharmasena (S Lanka)

Weather Cloudy and cool with some sunshine. Maximum temp: 19C

Pitch report Bone dry, should be full of runs but should also offer reverse swing and may break up early to bring spinners into play.

First Test odds England win 4-5; Australia win 3-1; Draw 3-1.

Television Sky Sports Ashes, 10.00-19.00

Ashes series fixtures

First Test 10-14 - Trent Bridge

Second 18-22 July - Lord's

Third 1-5 August - Old Trafford

Fourth 9-13 August - Chester-le-Street

Fifth 21-25 August - The Oval

Warner OUT

Smith IN

makes sense. smith has been in pretty good form in the ipl. i think he deserves a chance ahead of warner too. what is his bowling like?

Ashton Agar to debut in place of Lyon

probably should stick with lyon. that would be a gamble playing agar ahead of lyon. he has played 22 tests for 76 wkts at 33. hardly set the world on fire but you could argue he is a work in progress. but Agar has been presented with his Baggy Green. as the poms would say "a bit bonkers" really.

what a test match ! the commentators dont bother me. they are parochial but listening to afl commentary these days hardens you up to anything. no more biased sporting commentary in the world from what i have seen. footy that is.

yes haddin was out. he got the slightest of edges. the focus shouldnt be on Broad, but on the umpire . sadly incompetent. that was a basic everyday decision. but if it wasnt for Agar the game would have been over 24 hours earlier and we woudlnt be crying over it. our top order batsmen (clark and cowan) should hand back their pay, or give it to Agar.

looking forward to test match #2 on thursday. love the ashes it never dissapoints win lose or draw. cricket at its best and a great excuse to stay up late with a cuppa and a block of cadbury.