England left with red faces after neglecting Test cricket for years | Barney Ronay

It should come as no surprise that batsmen who have been told to whack a white ball into the stands cannot bat the day outWell, that wasn’t supposed to happen. On a mild, sunlit Birmingham day Australia bowled straight, fielded well, swarmed around England’s batsmen and took wickets with disarming ease in front of stands filled with garrulous southern hemisphere voices.As the final clatter began in earnest after lunch the endgame to this first Ashes Test began to feel a little giddy