Brisbane, Day 1:

Ponting Punishes Pathetic Paceman's Poop

I like that, for a minute there it sounded like a proper headline. Anyway, day 1 is over. Thank god.

That was shocking, admittedly it's a flat pitch and Ricky is a very good batsman with a flea in his ear about last year. But come on lads, let's get it sorted - and quick!

As I suspected it does seem like we've poked a big monster with a stick and now we're suffering the snarly reaction. The Cons have batted really superbly - but have been aided in their attempt by some woeful bowling from our main strike bowler. It's just a good job we've got 2 other pacemen that are ok (and one that is very good) otherwise we'd be in total shite. As I posted early this morning Harmy's first ball was lucky not to brain Freddie at 2nd slip, but worryingly it seems symptomatic of our reaction to the over-hyped, pressure cooker that this series is being played in. Basically we are a very good side, but The Cons have been doing this for years and have a culture of winning under sustained pressure. We need to step up our game and prove we're world class because at the mo we look a bit toothless - Freddie excepted.

The best we can hope for is for us to have a better day tomorrow and bowl them out before they get 550-600 on the board, otherwise we're left chasing 350-400 to avoid the follow on - a scary prospect even before you take into account that Warney likes bowling on this pitch more than any other!

Gulp.