Trent Bridge Review

Apologies for not reviewing each day as it came along but the excitement [alcohol] of going to the Test with a couple of my best friends took over, and I have since been in recovery after having my nerves shredded by the England batting in the second innings.

It was another epic, of course, which had another ridiculous ending that was too much to bear. I have some key thoughts from this game which I will summarise and will try and elaborate as time allows.

My feelings after day 1 were that England had been slightly fortunate not to lose a couple more wickets which would have been disastrous. The second day wholly belonged to England with a brilliant batting display and a superb bowling stint which set up the win.

Day 3 was all about the follow-on, and I am proud to say I was there the day that we asked the Aussies to do so, with Simon Jones again the difference between the teams. Michael Vaughan's decision was an easy one with the conditions as they were and talk of bad weather on Monday. Psychologically it was entirely correct, even if we had drawn the match due to weather it would have been a huge blow.

Without Jones England toiled but still picked up key wickets as they have all series. There may have been a few dodgy lbws but that is indicative of Trent Bridge, it happens every year no matter who the umpires are. I think the missed chances and close calls even out the bad ones though if you look closely.

The morning session on Sunday was tense and hard fought, with England strangling the Aussies to just 48 runs. That is where the game was won, although some of the newbies to Test cricket found it tedious it was enthralling and exactly what England needed. It set up the afternoon collapse and the manageable target of 128. Jim, sitting next to me, had already said that 150 would be too many. I would almost have preferred to see a larger total so we approached it properly but instead we were presented with another nail bighter!

Hats off to Giles and Hoggard, they were excellent in the end. And as Ashley always says, England win the tight ones and thanks to him we did.

It will be great to watch the DVD of this series later in the year and reflect on the overall improvement in the England team but right now we are on a rollercoaster with no idea how it will end. The only thing we know is that England are 2-1 up with one to play and cannot loose the series. Incredible.