The Ashes 2010: First Test Edgbaston 14th to 18th July 2010
Australia Steady At Lunch As They Build On Lead
16th July 2010
From our Chief Cricket Correspondent Rick Adams
England won the toss and put Australia into bat.
Australia First Innings 412 all out (Ponting 134*, Katich 89) Anderson 4/126, Collingwood 2/2 England First Innings 357 all out off 93.1 overs (Collingwood* 124, Bell 70, Broad 37) Johnson 3/54 Australia Second Innings
Australia made steady progress as they started to open up their lead on the third morning of this enthralling encounter.
At lunch both openers were still there, playing within themselves and waiting for the shine and bounce of the new ball to turn in their favor.
The only scare for the Australians was an lbw shout of a in swinging ball off Broad. Umpire Thomas Tan denied Broad and England a valuable wicket, judging the ball to have pitched outside the line.
Broad and Strauss seemed disappointed with the decision but television replays showed that Tan had been spot on in his decision.
Watson and Katich have already shown how valuable they are as an opening pair. England can only look on with something approaching jealousy as they go about their task in a calm and confident manner.
They take the singles when they are there and apart from the lbw shout have given absolutely nothing away.
England, despite some good tight economical bowling and fielding will go into lunch wondering where the next wicket is going to come from.
Join us after lunch as we continue our live coverage of this first test in a series of five over this long, long summer!
The facts that matter:
Australian Second Innings