The middle of the line

England ended the first day at 307-8, which is probably not a great score on a good pitch for batsmen. We’ll see tomorrow how good it is for the Aussies.

Strauss and Bell both had a reasonable innings, and Trott scored a creditable 41 on his debut. Flintoff disappointed in the first part of his ‘farewell’ Test – caught out on 7 after wafting at one too many wayward balls.

The real question is how well the England attack will do against the Australian batsmen