Honours even after rain-interrupted first day

The Fourth Ashes Test is evenly poised with England at 4-229 after an intriguing but rain-interrupted first day at Trent Bridge.

Kevin Pietersen (33*) and Andrew Flintoff (8*) were the not out batsmen when inclement weather and fading light finally brought a halt to proceedings half an hour before the scheduled close of play.

The much-anticipated debut of South Australian paceman Shaun Tait lived up to all the hype, with the young speedster helping the Aussies back into the match, taking 2-31 off eight swift overs, following a fine century opening stand between Marcus Trescothick (65) and Andrew Strauss (35).

His two quick wickets, together with a rare breakthrough from captain Ricky Ponting- that of his English counterpart Michael Vaughan for a well-made 58- balanced the scales once more in this topsy turvy series.

But just like at Old Trafford, the tourists could be left to rue missed chances, as they twice failed to take offerings from a subdued Pietersen in the last session.

Glenn McGrath failed to come up from an elbow injury prior to the game and his omission gave Michael Kasprowicz a return to the team. After Vaughan won the toss, the burly Queenslander took the new ball with Brett Lee, but neither could make an impact on what looked to be a very good batting wicket.

Regardless, England’s openers started cautiously, taking time to adjust to the lack of pace and bounce in the pitch, however, they soon found their groove and set about constructing another solid foundation.

Trescothick moved rapidly to his half-century off 76 balls and the pair reached 0-105, before the appearance of Shane Warne brought about a mistake from Strauss. He attempted a paddle-sweep, but could only inside edge it onto his foot and straight to Matthew Hayden at first slip.

Trescothick and Vaughan safely negotiated until lunch, whereupon the heavens opened and caused an extended interval of three hours, with only 10 minutes of play possible inbetween.

The break certainly seemed to assist the Australians, who returned to find the moisture in the pitch and heavy cloud cover conducive to swing bowling and in particular, the slingy action of debutant Tait.

While he struggled in his first spell, the 22-year-old was now in his element, troubling all batsman with late swing and movement off the seam. With the Aussies in dire need of inspiration, the 22-year-old provided it with a gem of a ball to earn his first Test match wicket. His full, inswinging delivery crashed into Trescothick’s stumps, with the bewildered English opener left to lament another wasted start.

Two overs later, Tait had Ian Bell caught behind by Adam Gilchrist - the wicketkeeper’s 300th Test dismissal - with a ball that seemed to swing in but moved away slightly and Australia was now right in the contest, with England at 3-146.

The conditions were clearly in the tourists’ favour, however they failed to completely capitalize, with Kasprowicz dropping a hot caught and bowled chance from the newly-arrived Pietersen, while Hayden grassed a simple catch from the bat of Vaughan.

The pair added 67 runs and seemed destined to make it to the close of play before Ricky Ponting captured his opposing number’s wicket with a clever piece of strategy. He brought himself into the attack and bowled wide of off-stump, slowing the scoring rate and in turn, frustrating the normally free-scoring Vaughan.

Eventually, the English skipper was tempted to play at a delivery which he could only nick to Gilchrist, who accepted the thin edge gleefully.

At this point, England were 4-213 and the onset of more rain soon after signalled the end of the day’s play, with the match on an even keel heading into Friday.

Full scorecard available here.

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