Broad puts England on unlikely brink.

Our man by the urn, The Worm, assesses the first two days of the final Ashes Test Match.

The pendulum has swung again as penduli have a tendency to do, and it is perhaps fitting that Flintoff’s heir apparent has taken the series away from Australia with a series-defining burst of 5/37, tearing through the heart of Australia’s batting line up with 4/8 in 21 balls. Stuart Broad has come to the party with controlled seam bowling that got such sudden results. Broad’s intelligence was particularly impressive, the planning which was so absent in Cardiff, perfectly executed. Ponting rushed by the bounce, forced to play on; Hussey given balls he couldn’t leave, defeated by the inswinger; Clarke encouraged to lean wide to scoop a drive to Trott. Broad played to the weaknesses of these experienced and high quality batsmen and showed how good, how bright he can be.
 
Jonathan Trott has impressed on debut. He has looked relaxed and undaunted, unlike the more experienced Collingwood who has been nothing short of terrible. Indeed, Trott’s authority, his footwork and his strokeplay suggest that he could, in time, graduate to the crucial number three position. And it helps that he is a terrific fielder. It would be nice to see him and Strauss put together a partnership this morning to take the game away from Australia and forestall the usual nailbiter. Strauss is playing a very personal game, bubbling with excitement at winning the toss and aware that he is the stability of the batting order, a captain who seems unable to rely on his batting colleagues. He has shown impeccable concentration, left anything he did not need to play and is leading by his actions. It is good to see.
 
Swann took 4 wickets but was given the benefit of some awful umpiring decisions, North got a huge inside edge and was given lbw, Johnson was a long way from the ball and was given out caught. On the other side, Bell and Strauss were both out to no balls on Day 1. For test cricket the umpiring standard has been uncharacteristically poor all series. As I write this, Asad Rauf has just made a magnificent decision to give Trott not out to the first ball of the day- it looked to all the world like it was caught behind but the replays showed it came off thighpad. Making up for some poor decisions yesterday, perhaps, but sadly for the visitors it is the inconsistency that can tip a close game in one direction or the other.
 
Australia are unfortunate to have lost the toss on this wicket. It put them in a situation of uncertainty which they did not respond to well. Batting collapses are rarely about great bowling in isolation; they tell of nerves and frailty, and for all their big totals it is the third collapse we have seen from them in the series. Telling statistics. As well as Broad bowled, as difficult as the wicket is, they should have got more than 160 and they faltered. Australia were defeated by the moment and it will probably cost them the series. Or is there time for another swing of the pendulum?