Evans binds brittle Warwickshire

Warwickshire 254 for 6 (Evans 85*, Westwood 68) v Nottinghamshire
Scorecard

A first Championship win since April and a couple of Friends Life t20 successes and Warwickshire's dismal season suddenly appeared to be looking up. Then came another in a succession of injuries that have blighted their defence of the title they claimed so emphatically in 2012. Chris Wright is the latest victim in this run of poor luck after a scan revealed that a stress fracture lay behind the back troubled that flared up at Uxbridge last week.

Conditioned in the modern way to accentuate the positives, Warwickshire are not inclined to make injuries an excuse. It was the Ashley Giles way and his successor, Dougie Brown, is of a similar mind. Yet there has not been a match, it seems, without two or three of last year's side missing, sometimes more. Inevitably, there are consequences in faltering form.

Only two of the team selected for this match have played in every Championship round; some, such as Keith Barker and Ian Westwood, have missed half or near enough. In addition to Wright, captain Jim Troughton is also absent with back trouble. Oliver Hannon-Dalby, signed in part as cover for injuries, is himself sidelined, also with a stress fracture. At least Laurie Evans has recovered from the broken hand inflicted by a ball from England's Steven Finn in May.

As if to prove it, Evans, the 25-year-old former Surrey batsman, has set himself up to achieve the target he had set himself for when Finn interrupted his progress, namely to complete his first Championship century. He was 15 runs away at the close of the opening day.

It was hard work at times, the result of a sluggish pitch and an appetite for work among the Nottinghamshire bowlers in spite of the building heat. You would expect it of Harry Gurney and Ajmal Shahzad, lithe young men both; less so, perhaps, of the more heavily burdened Luke Fletcher and the creaky Andre Adams. Yet all of them bowled a testing line and length and, for the most part, kept it up.

But Evans maintained his concentration well and picked his moments for some nicely executed shots on both sides of the wicket, picking up a dozen boundaries. "It was attritional cricket and they bowled well and I played probably the worst I have played at the beginning of an innings all year but it was a matter of hanging tough and getting through it and I played a lot more fluently later," he said. "I like to be attacking and I've got out in the past by trying to dominate at the wrong times and going at balls I shouldn't be so I was pleased to come through the difficult periods."

Evans anchored at least a partial recovery by Warwickshire, who lost Varun Chopra to a gloved catch to second slip early and then saw William Porterfield leave a ball from Adams that clipped his off stump. Westwood rode his luck somewhat, surviving dropped catches on 32 and 50 before clipping a ball from Samit Patel straight to mid-on for 67.

Tim Ambrose, who took it upon himself to up the pace of scoring after lunch, raced to 39 off 43 balls before brushing a leg-side delivery from Adams to be caught behind, but when Patel's left-arm spin bowled Chris Woakes and Rikki Clarke fell to a stunning catch by James Taylor at midwicket Warwickshire felt danger welling up again at 213 for 6.

Adams, who is 38 on Wednesday, finished the day on 3 for 49 from 24 overs, again underlining his durability. Adams is a strong man yet fragile in the sense that he needs to care for himself assiduously lest something goes badly wrong and ends his career. His skills with the ball, though, seem never to diminish.

He willingly passes them on, too, frequently accompanying a younger bowling team-mate back to his mark, offering a word of encouragement or advice. He seems to have taken Shahzad under his wing in particular as Nottinghamshire try to mould the former Yorkshire quick into a bowler with more than simply pace and menace to his game.

The improvement is coming, too. Adams apart, no one troubled the batsmen more and it was he who was left fuming when Westwood had his moments of luck as Patel and then Alex Hales failed to do their duty in the slips. Nought for 49 did not do him justice.

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Warner admits guilt over Arthur sacking

David Warner's days as a Test opening batsman are done, and perhaps so too those as a serial source of trouble in Australian cricket. Speaking for the first time since the former national coach Mickey Arthur was replaced by Darren Lehmann, Warner admitted his repeated poor behaviour contributed directly to the sacking, and acknowledged that another misstep will mean he is "on the first plane home".

As it is, Warner will not be anywhere near Lord's at the time of the second Test. On Tuesday he will depart for Australia A duty in South Africa, where he will commence his re-education as a middle-order batsman and set his sights on emulating Michael Hussey's energy and adaptability in the position.

For Australia A, Warner will bat at No. 4, marking the first time he has slid down the order since his Test debut against New Zealand in 2011, and preparation for a potential return at No. 6 should he make the requisite number of runs to return later in the Ashes series.

"I've been spoken to about batting six and that's the role I'm looking forward to being part of this team," Warner said in London. "If I get into this team and I bat six, I'll be doing everything I can to fill that Mike Hussey role and come out and have that intent from ball one, because I see that as the acceleration number in the team. His intent that he had over the years he played was magnificent and I feel I can play that role as well.

"You have to sum up the game situation. You could be come in at four or five for nothing or you could be coming in at 400 and it's up to me to try to adapt to that situation, to try to come out and accelerate from there or to try to grind it out like the boys did the other night before stumps."

The frustration Warner felt at falling out of serious contention for the Trent Bridge match due to his suspension from the lead-up games was intense, to the point that he broke down in tears when informing his family he would not be playing in Nottingham.

"As a kid growing up you want to play in the Ashes and after that incident I went back to my room and I was pretty shattered for a week and a half, two weeks. I still feel the guilt of what happened. I feel myself it's led to me being in this situation at the moment. Things would have been different, I would have been able to play those warm-up games and I could have pressed my claims to play in this first Test but that's me. I put my hand up and accepted the consequences and now it's about me putting as many runs on the board these next two games and press forward.

"I rang my mum and dad and told them I wasn't playing. And I kind of broke down on the phone to mum and it's just one of those things you ask your mum and dad what could I have done better in those situations and you don't want to really go into it as much but I've matured a lot since that incident and now it's all about me trying to play cricket again."

Arthur's sacking, arriving so soon after Warner was suspended, provided a reminder of how much his behaviour had affected others. "It was probably another thing that was gutting, that I may have played a part in that," Warner said. "But that's the business we're in and James Sutherland explained the reasons why that happened and that's the thing that we have to do, we're professional athletes, we have to move on from that and now Darren is the coach and we respect him 100%.

"There's a lot of contributing factors to certain things that went on around the team. No-one likes a guy disturbing their preparation and that's what I felt I did, especially with the Champions Trophy. All that stuff came out before that game against New Zealand, I didn't play and then it was about me and not about the team's focus and that was the most disappointing thing I felt came out of that."

Lehmann has described Warner as having a "clean slate" under his leadership, and there are no longer any strict individual boundaries set out for him. Instead senior players, including the pivotal figure of the wicketkeeper and vice-captain Brad Haddin, are entrusted with the task of watching over Warner, by day and by night.

"Darren's just said to go out there and score runs and be myself," Warner said. "Just get that X-factor back that I can have for this team so hopefully I can score some runs. Definitely still enjoy myself off the field. There's no bans, there's no curfews, no nothing. The mistakes, I've learned, I've become more mature, off the field as well. I know if I stuff up again I'm on the first plane home. No-one needs to tell you that because you already know it."

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'I think I'm a bit more mature now'

Before heading to South Africa with Australia A, David Warner spoke to the media about the problems of the last month, missing the Ashes and what the future holds. Here are some more of his thoughts

The past month

"Yeah, it's been tough, reading the stuff that you [Malcolm Conn, Daily Telegraph] have been writing about me, it's been hard but the thing that happens - you make mistakes and you suffer the consequences. and you learn from those mistakes. I think I'm a bit more mature now. It's about getting down to business and playing as good a cricket as I can and scoring runs for Australia."

Lead-up to Trent Bridge

"As everyone we all had to prepare as if we were playing, and two days out you sort of know in your own mind if you're going to play or not. And I felt I did everything that I could possibly do to prepare for that first Test and I probably had an inkling in the last training session that I wasn't going to play just due to the fact you generally have that full amped session where everyone is ready to go. So we got notified the night before and I wasn't playing and it was up to me to go back to my room and try and think about what I can do to get back into this team."

Going to South Africa

"We're all on the same time path anyway so I'm not going to lose much sleep. The ideal thing was that this Australia A tour was put on at this time for this very reason, so that we could go over there and play cricket if need be. I'm just happy I'm getting the opportunity to go there. You see some of these county wickets here, they're nice and green and as you saw the wicket the other day, it was a bit dry. So if I was to play a country game here…but now I've got the opportunity to go and play for Australia A and get some runs on the board."

Winning back his Test spot

"I'd like to think I'm definitely up there for a chance to be back. Hopefully we're winning and all the guys are scoring runs and it's going to be hard for me to get back in. I want that to happen and that's how fickle this environment is. If you stuff up or you're not scoring runs the next person is going to take that opportunity and as long as we're winning I'm happy."

Brad Haddin's influence

"He is a guy who will call a spade a spade and will pull you up if you are out of line. The fortunate thing is that I have grown up playing grade cricket and State cricket and he has always pulled me into line when every I have been going a little bit wayward. Having him back here is like another father for me. It is exciting for me and exciting for the team."

Cutting corners in training

"That's something I picked up from Mike Hussey and Ricky Ponting. You would be up in the changeroom about to have a shower and you would look out there and go why are they still out there? You actually start learning that to help your team-mates you have to do those extra things, whether it is waiting half an hour after training to do your stuff. A lot of the guys do that. I've caught on that you have to give this 100% not go at 60 or 70% and be content with that."

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Greg Smith out shines Ponting

Essex 149 for 2 (Smith 62, Shah 46*) beat Surrey 148 for 6 (Ponting 65) by eight wickets
Scorecard

Ricky Ponting hit a masterly 65, his highest score in the Friends Life t20, but it was not enough to prevent Essex from ending Surrey's run of four successive victories with an eight-wicket triumph in front of a crowd of nearly 15,000 at The Oval.

Hamish Rutherford, the New Zealand batsman, gave Essex a flying start in pursuit of a target of 149 with 30 off 17 balls before Greg Smith and Owais Shah shared a second wicket partnership of 98 in 12 overs to enable them to cruise home with seven balls to spare.

Their fourth win puts them alongside Hampshire at the top of the South Division although they have an inferior run rate and have played two games more.

Ponting, who had scored only 35 runs in his three previous innings in the competition with a highest score of 19, found himself at the crease in the second over after Steve Davies had got a leading edge to his first ball from Graham Napier and ballooned it back to the bowler.

Jason Roy had already hit two fours off Shaun Tait in the first over and he struck two more off David Masters in the third but he and Ponting had added only 43 in six overs when Roy was run out for 30 by Ryan ten Doeschate's throw from midwicket.

Ponting and Glenn Maxwell were no quicker in a third wicket stand of 45 in seven overs but the former Australia captain looked positively skittish as he scooped ten Doeschate to fine leg for four and drove Reece Topley over long off to reach his fifty off 40 balls.

He had lost Maxwell when he was brilliantly caught one-handed by Tim Phillips on the midwicket boundary off ten Doeschate and it was Phillips who held the catch at long-on to get rid of Ponting off Topley after he had made his 65 off 54 balls with six fours and a six.

It had been another brilliant performance by the 38-year-old who last week finished his first-class career with an unbeaten 169.

Essex did well to restrict Surrey to 148 for 6 and did even better with the bat, Rutherford setting the pace with two fours and two sixes before he was well caught at deep backward square-leg off Jon Lewis.

Then Smith took over, accelerating to 62 off 42 balls with four fours and three sixes, and Shah gave him all the support he needed with 46 off 45 balls, including two fours and a six.

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Haddin epitomises Australia fight

The first Test ebbed and flowed right up until the moment of uncertainty surrounding Brad Haddin's dismissal before the waters finally closed over Australia

Brad Haddin re-marked his guard like a man who had given the possibility of losing barely a nanosecond's thought. England's fielders swarmed around him, convinced of the edge that would deliver them victory. James Anderson was not so sure, having heard no sound. Behind Anderson, the umpire Aleem Dar was even less aware of the possibility of a nick, not for the first time in the match. Alastair Cook, Matt Prior and Anderson conferred, briskly but calmly, before deciding to review Dar's decision.

Offering them not the slightest bit of notice, Haddin strode down the wicket and conferred with Australia's last man, James Pattinson, ahead of the next ball he looked so certain would come. As England held their breath, Haddin and Pattinson began planning how to whittle those last few runs down. They also had the chance to ponder for a moment how they managed to get within 15 runs of an England team so few had expected them to seriously challenge. A match flashed past their eyes.

Trent Bridge had revealed its charms and dramas slowly. First impressions were seldom the same as final ones. Day one was frenetic but lacking in poise, nerves playing as great a part in proceedings as skills, tactics or conditions. Australia's first man through the wall on day one had not been Ashton Agar, a nervous debutant yet to become the popular phenomenon he is now. It was instead Peter Siddle, who confounded the small army of critics who had questioned his place. England's first blows were struck not by Anderson but Steven Finn, a hair's breadth away from a grand hat-trick with Michael Clarke as its apogee.

Pattinson started the match not as a nerveless tailender, but a decidedly keyed up fast bowler. He hurled down the first over of the Test match, a nervy bouncer to Cook followed up with a series of balls sprayed too wide to be of any danger to the batsman. Haddin made a similarly ginger start to his series, diving over a difficult leg-side chance offered from Pattinson's bowling and then having his defence punctured second ball by a ripping offbreak from Graeme Swann, who was never again quite as dangerous as he had seemed at that moment.

The disarming of Swann was perhaps chief among Agar's many achievements. Apart from setting records for No. 11 innings and partnerships, bringing a smile to cricket watchers the world over with his charismatic batting, and holding his own as a tidy left-arm spin bowler, Agar showed a confidence and assurance against Swann that can only improve Australia's chances of combating him for the rest of the series. The way he advanced to drive Swann on the second morning, lofting him imperiously towards the Trent Bridge Members Pavilion, was to be tellingly repeated by Pattinson as the target ticked closer on day five.

	The Huddle - Australia will have to move on

The confidence with which Pattinson and Haddin faced up to Swann, Broad and Finn left an enormous weight of pressure on Anderson. Throughout the match he responded stirringly to Cook's demands, extending his spells an extra over here or there, and coming back more frequently than either of his pace counterparts. Ultimately Anderson's tally for the match reached into a 56th over. Between them, Finn and Stuart Broad bowled 54.5. Anderson's pre-eminence as a fast-medium bowler in this series, and in the world, is unquestioned. But he is highly unlikely to be able to sustain the Trent Bridge effort for five Tests, let alone ten.

Something else that cannot be sustained, at least in Australian eyes, is the disparity in the two teams' use of the DRS. Another slightly misleading point for much of day one had been England's use of the system, notably a poor Finn review against his caught behind dismissal. The more lasting pattern of the match would be established late on the first evening, when Chris Rogers reviewed his lbw dismissal and found himself on the wrong end of a marginal umpire's call.

These would surface again and again to Australia's displeasure, though England were also to be humbugged by Jonathan Trott's lbw exit when bat appeared likely to have been involved. Broad's survival of a clear catch to slip was less the denial of sportsmanship than a reminder of flawed umpires, flawed Australian use of reviews and a flawed system.

Nothing, though, was quite so flawed as Australia's batting. The memorable tenth-wicket stands in both innings played a huge role in ensuring Clarke's team would stay close with England. They were in the same instant a reminder that this side has been essentially relying on freak batting events to keep them competitive for quite some time.

In 2011 and 2012 such happenings revolved around Clarke, who batted as if in a perpetual dream. This year too few of the runs have come from those men who answer to making them in their job descriptions. Clarke has said he does not care where the runs come from, so long as they arrive from somewhere. But no team can reasonably expect tail-end miracles of the kind produced by Siddle in Delhi, Mitchell Starc in Mohali and Agar here to carry them towards any kind of consistent success.

Haddin knew this as he stood side by side with Pattinson, refusing to believe the day was done. English hearts leapt briefly with joy when the replay screen appeared to show a speck of heat on Haddin's inside edge, then returned to a more laboured pulse as the third umpire Marais Erasmus cross-checked Hot Spot with the stump audio. Only three days before he had been oblivious to an inside edge by Trott.

Stern and confident, Haddin hung on to his thoughts of the next ball, the next run and the final victory, right until the moment Dar crossed himself and raised his finger. The younger Pattinson bowed his head, in frustration and defeat. But Haddin stared straight ahead, not willing to lose face. He kept his defiant posture on the walk off Trent Bridge, even if the removal of his helmet revealed a face lined with pain. However Haddin dealt with this defeat, he would not grant England the opportunity to see it. If his stance said anything, it was this: it isn't over.

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England lean on Anderson again

Whatever they may say to the contrary, England are increasingly reliant on the skill, fitness and reliability of James Anderson

It was entirely fitting that James Anderson took the match-winning wicket at Trent Bridge. Never has England's reliance on him been so painfully exposed. Over recent months, England have lent on him like an elderly person might a zimmer frame, or like an alcoholic in search of a drink.

Perhaps that is the better simile, for England's over-reliance upon Anderson is not healthy. The burden upon him, not just in Test cricket, but in ODIs as well, has become immense. While his colleagues lose form, fitness and confidence, Anderson has been consistently excellent for several years, leading his captain to coax just one more over, one more spell from him time after time. England go to the well so often that fears are growing it may run dry.

It looked for a while on the last day as if England had reached that moment. After an immense opening spell of 13 overs that took his tally for game above 50 in unusual heat, Anderson was forced off the pitch with what the England camp insist - an insistence perhaps tinged with hope - was an attack of cramp.

At that stage he might have presumed his work was done. Australia were 80 runs from their target when the ninth wicket fell; his colleagues should have been able to take it from there.

Instead, Anderson was obliged to take on plenty of fluids at the lunch break and found himself forced into service once more after it became painfully obvious that England had no replacement capable of sustaining his match-clinching burst. It took him only two overs to finish the game off and clinch not just his second five-wicket haul of the match but the second ten-wicket haul of his career. His statistics, dented by premature exposure to international cricket, may never show it but his bowling over the last three years has touched a level of greatness to which very few England bowlers have ventured.

Anderson was magnificent in this game. It is not just his skill, but his fitness and reliability that render him such a valuable player. MS Dhoni rated him the difference between the sides after England's Test series victory in India and it was no exaggeration. It is the same in this series: if Anderson were injured, this England attack would hold little fear for Australia.

This surface offered him little. There was just a little conventional swing and seam and minimal pace or bounce. Conditions were much more akin to Ahmedabad or Kolkata than to stereotypical English pitches. But Anderson, with his nagging control and ability to reverse-swing the ball into and away from the batsmen from a well-disguised action, rose above such obstacles to remain a potent force. It was a performance of which Zaheer Khan or Mohammad Asif would have been proud.

He deserved better support, though. While Stuart Broad may be worryingly fragile, he had an increasingly impressive Test, but a couple of other England players would have slipped away from Trent Bridge amid the celebrations, feeling low as result of their personal contributions.

Certainly Steven Finn, cutting a diffident figure for a man capable of such brutish spells, endured a horrible final day. Not only did he miss a tough chance at deep-backward square leg to reprieve Brad Haddin on 62, but he failed to sustain the pressure created by Anderson when he relieved him in the attack. The contrast was unflattering: while Anderson delivered three wicket maidens in the session and conceded only 29 runs in a 13-over spell, Finn was plundered for 15 in his first over and five in his second. He was then removed from the attack and is far from certain to play at Lord's.

	James Anderson's post-match press conference

Finn is too young and full of potential to be written off but there is a concern about his lack of progress. He was dropped after the Perth Test in 2010 for conceding four an over but conceded 4.68 an over here. While he bowled one decent spell on the first day and another on the fourth, his lack of control has routinely released the pressure on the opposition in recent months. Again, England insist he is fully fit but the suspicion remains that the shin soreness that troubled him in earlier in the summer has robbed him of some confidence and rhythm.

Had England lost this game, it might have been remembered as one of the lowest moments of Graeme Swann's career, too. He has endured disappointing games before - Cardiff and Edgbaston in 2009 spring to mind, as does Brisbane in 2010 and The Oval 2012 - but rarely when so much has been expected of him in conditions so apparently favourable. England had originally planned not to take the new ball on the final day but so unthreatening was Swann they had to, with Alastair Cook admitting that "it wasn't doing a lot for Swanny, so we changed tactics".

Perhaps expectations were unrealistically high. With England bowling last on such a dry pitch and Swann playing on his home ground, events seemed to have been set-up for Swann to strike the crucial blows. But the pitch turned less than had been anticipated and Swann, who has never taken a five-wicket haul in a first-class game on the ground and had not taken a Test wicket here until 2012, was rarely threatening.

He did, however, produce one good spell, late on the penultimate day, that perhaps suggested there was enough in the pitch to help had he bowled with the bite and turn that we have come to expect.

The miles on the clock may be starting to show. Swann has suffered from back and calf injuries in the last few weeks and underwent a second operation on his right elbow earlier this year. While the sluggish pace of the pitch did little for him, that can be no excuse for the surfeit of full tosses he delivered.

That is more of a worry than Finn's loss of form. Swann's prowess had been considered a key factor in the gap between the sides before this series and a succession of dry pitches are anticipated to aid his spin. If he is struggling for form or fitness, England will become even more reliant on Anderson. Monty Panesar remains the second-best spinner in England but has not been at his best in recent months - he was dropped from the Sussex side a few weeks ago - while James Tredwell, in favour with the selectors but out of form with the ball, has an eye-watering first-class bowling average of 428 this season.

It was somehow typical that Ian Bell's immense contribution to this result was overshadowed by the performances of others. He will be consoled, however, in the knowledge that he played the innings that defined this match and, to this point, the most mature and important innings of his career. After a modest 18 months, his confidence and form is as good as it ever has been and he should have proved to himself as much as anyone that he can produce such performances regularly.

Cook's contribution could easily be overlooked on the final day, too. When he first moved into the slip cordon, he was something approaching a liability. Only a year ago, he put down several chances against South Africa that proved hugely costly for England. But, just as he worked on his range of strokes and his issues outside off stump, Cook worked on his weakness until he made it a strength.

Here, as the sole slip fielder and standing closer to the bat than normal to account for the lack of carry from the sluggish pitch, he held on to a couple of sharp chance, the first off Ashton Agar and the second off Peter Siddle. He did provide a reminder that you have never mastered this game by also putting down a relatively easy chance offered by Siddle but Cook, like his star fast bowler, has proved that with hard work and self belief, continual improvement is possible and can lift players to unprecedented heights. Neither Cook or Anderson would claim to be the most talented cricketers their country has produced, but they may well end their careers as the highest run-scorer and wicket-taker in England Test history.

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Azam, Talat give Zarai Taraqiati Bank last-over win

Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited 156 for 2 (Azam 77*, Talat 37*) beat Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited 155 for 6 (Waqas 41, Rehan 2-26) by 8 wickets
Scorecard

A flamboyant knock of 77 from 18-year-old Baba Azam and a stable 37 from Hussain Talat helped Zarai Taraqiati Bank chase 156 with two balls to spare against Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited in Karachi. Azam and Talat put on 112 for the third wicket in just 13.3 overs after they lost their first two wickets for 44. They needed 94 off the last ten overs and 56 from the last five, and Azam's six fours and three sixes, along with four boundaries from Talat made the chase possible.

Earlier, SNGPL were put in to bat and all their top-order batsmen got starts but couldn't convert them into big scores as they were 68 for 3 after 10 overs. However, a run-a-ball innings of 41 from Ali Waqas and quick contributions from Khurram Shehzad (20 off 16) and Imran Khalid (26 off 12) ensured they reached a competitive 155 for 6, which eventually did not prove enough.

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Finn must fly

Some say he is 24, with time on his side. Others say his Test career is going sideways

Try telling Steven Finn that victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan. As England celebrated their victory over Australia at Trent Bridge he will have felt if not alone then certainly detached. Finn's relief at victory was probably greater than anybody's - had England lost, he might have been a Fred Tate for the 21st century - but even that will have been overshadowed by the insecurity that surrounds his Test career and his apparently recurring Ashes nightmare.

The final day at Trent Bridge was almost humiliating for Finn. Alastair Cook only trusted him to bowl two of the 39.5 overs, and they disappeared for 25 to get Australia back into a game that they had apparently lost. Then he dropped Brad Haddin at deep backward square leg, a difficult chance but one he would have taken to the grave had England been beaten.

Finn had allowed Australia back into the match once already, with a poor spell to Phillip Hughes and Ashton Agar on Thursday. He went from taking the new ball in the first innings to not getting a bowl until the 29th over of the second. Even allowing for the context - Stuart Broad's first-innings injury and Graeme Swann's early use in the second innings - it felt like a significant demotion. For a bowler there are few things as hurtful as realising his captain does not trust him. The match wasn't an unmitigated disaster - Finn bowled a superb five-over spell on Saturday evening - but it wasn't far off, and his place in the team will be England's main point of discussion ahead of Lord's.

There are two ways of looking at Finn: he is either 24, with time on his side, or he has been a Test cricketer for three years - Jonathan Trott and Graeme Swann, established stars, only began their Test careers seven and 14 months before Finn - and is going sideways. The sense that he has not progressed is most acute in an Ashes series, for Finn is enduring the same problems as on the 2010-11 tour of Australia, when he was dropped for the fourth Test despite being the leading wicket-taker in the series. The reason was simple: he was a walking four-ball. The problem has re-occurred two and a half years later. Finn has been set aside for potential greatness for a few years; his development is taking a frustratingly long time.

In the age of media training, sportsmen are not encouraged to be lavish with the truth, yet Finn recently suggested that he had not developed as he had hoped. His overall career record is fine - 90 Test wickets at 29.40, a lower average than any of his team-mates - yet a more relevant statistic is his economy rate of 3.65. This compares unfavourably to James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett, who are all between 2.90 and 3.10, although Graham Onions concedes runs at a similar rate to Finn.

That does not fit the ethos of a side obsessed with bowling dry. The peculiar thing is that, on paper, Finn is David Saker's driest dream: he could have been invented by boffins trying to create a parsimonious fast bowler, and when he first arrived as an international player, he cited Glenn McGrath as the bowler he wanted to be.

Increasingly Steve Harmison seems a more relevant point of comparison. Both make the little girl with the little curl seem like the model of equilibrium. Finn's outwardly secure exterior suggested he was a different animal to Harmison, yet increasingly he seems to suffer damaging lapses in confidence. His two overs on the final day against Australia were those of a man whose head had gone. Yet at other times he has been unplayable, most notably during a wonderful spell against South Africa at Lord's a year ago. He has excelled at times in one-day cricket, although he was dropped from the England side during the Champions Trophy.

	The most encouraging thing for Finn is that, generally speaking, he is good at the things you can't teach and not so good at those you can

Much of Finn's success in one-day cricket has come from a drive-inviting length, whereas in Tests he frequently bowls too short. McGrath is an obvious reference point for a tall fast bowler, but in some ways Finn is more reminiscent of Jason Gillespie. At his best, Gillespie bowled a much fuller length than almost all new-ball bowlers, allowing the snarling seam movement to do the rest. This is something Finn does not do nearly enough at Test level. It is not possible for Finn to simply change his default setting; Finn needs to train his brain over time.

In the short term it might be beneficial to replace Finn with Bresnan, merciful even, yet it's hard to know how that would impact his confidence in the medium-term, especially as it would be the second time he had been dropped in the middle of an Ashes series. After that spell against South Africa at Lord's it seemed that Finn had left Bresnan in his slipstream forever, and that he would always play when England were picking three seamers. After a decent series against India, he was poor in New Zealand and has not recovered.

Finn shortened his run-up during that tour, which has been cited as the main problem by many; equally significant if not more so, however, is Finn's relative lack of tactical awareness. England, particularly Saker and Anderson, are big on understanding the game and reacting to circumstances. This is one of Finn's weakest points, and was demonstrated again during Agar's innings on Friday.

The most encouraging thing for Finn is that, generally speaking, he is good at the things you can't teach and not so good at those you can. There is no need to panic yet. In Anderson he had a perfect role model. The two are incomparable as bowlers, yet their early careers had a similar arc: a burst of success followed by some lost years as they attempt to understand their game and their action.

Anderson went through some extremely dark times, far darker than Finn is going through at the moment. At Finn's age, Anderson had not been a regular in the team for over three years and had 46 Test wickets at 38.39; at Trent Bridge yesterday he went from extremely good to truly great. Anderson may have been born with a degree of greatness in him, but ultimately he had to achieve it. There is no reason why Finn should not do the same.

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An English plan made in Australia

Something that David Saker had seen in Chris Rogers' batting led to a wicket and an on-pitch tribute from England's leading bowler

James Anderson wasn't looking at his captain. James Anderson wasn't looking at the catcher. And James Anderson wasn't even looking at Graeme Swann in the seconds after his Chris Rogers wicket.

Anderson was looking at someone though. He was pointing. He was screaming. He was connecting with a special person on the balcony. It was passionate and romantic. But instead of a beautiful woman wearing a white gown leaning seductively on the balcony, it was the round, flushed face of David Saker.

Saker didn't blow a kiss at Anderson; he just gave him the thumbs up.

Only lip readers will know, or at least think they know, what Anderson said to his beloved coach. Anyone who didn't believe in cricket coaches might have been converted by this dramatic moment. Saker is certainly of more use to Anderson than merely driving him to and from the ground.

This all came about, like the best crime films, with a plan.

The plan was not all that complicated. Anderson would bowl around the wicket to Rogers. He would pitch it up on off stump. There would be a short midwicket. And Rogers would eventually flick one in the air to the short midwicket.

It could have been something Saker had seen in this innings. Or it could have been something Saker remembered from a Shield match against Rogers in 1999. It's even possible that Rogers showed the weakness to chipping in the air when Saker was Victoria's assistant coach.

Saker coached Peter Siddle and James Pattinson before leaving Australia for the England job. He was under Cricket Australia's nose for over five years. Victoria's fast-bowling line up was scary, and Saker was getting credit. In any of the many recent overhauls Saker could have been tempted back home to finish the job he started at Victoria.

Instead he plots the downfall of his countryman and gets screaming adulation of the opposition.

It wasn't just any wicket either; this flaccid flick from Rogers was what has given England their chance to win. With Rogers at the crease, Australia had one end locked tight. Rogers had dulled Graeme Swann. Australia had moved past 100. Michael Clarke was still with him. There were reasons to be optimistic. Hell, there were reasons to tease random English people that their 10-0 prediction may not last until lunch on Sunday, if you're that kind of fan.

And it wasn't as if a James Anderson late-hooping million-dollar ball took him out. The ball couldn't have been any straighter if it were a Southern Baptist Preacher. It wasn't particularly quick, maybe the slightest bit of pace off. It played no tricks off the pitch. Had there not been the yellin' and screamin' at Saker on the balcony, it would've looked like a lucky wicket.

Maybe it was. But England seemed to get a lot of lucky wickets. They continually aimed at Shane Watson's massive front pad until they hit it. They gave Ed Cowan a part-time spinner to hit out of the rough knowing that he might be more likely to have a go off Joe Root than Swann. They kept the ball in the place Clarke is most likely to play a half shot and nick behind.

But until tea, England were ordinary. They were flat. Steven Finn was hidden. Swann looked out of sorts. Anderson was manageable. And Broad looked more pantomime villain than cold-blooded assassin. They were playing like a side who thought 311 runs were way too many for Australia, even though the evidence was proving otherwise.

According to Ian Bell, the break came at the right time. Sitting his bowlers down, the man with the round face and Australian accent gave them new plans.

After tea Australia lost four wickets. They had to use their Ashton Agar. They only scored 63 runs in 34.2 overs. They lost all advantages. And referrals. They were naked.

Saker and Anderson had made them so. The coach, his 'most skillful bowler in the world' and their simple plan.

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Australia lose openers' thread

The partnership between Shane Watson and Chris Rogers rattled England and made Australia's target look eminently achievable - but the men that followed could not keep it up

For 84 runs and 24 overs, Shane Watson and Chris Rogers left England's bowlers more bereft of ideas about how to confound Australian batsmen than at any time in recent memory. As a promising opening combination read faultlessly from the book on how to handle the new ball, a curious flatness descended on Trent Bridge. In contravention of what the tourists are expected to do - collapse - Watson and Rogers rotated the strike, cuffed regular boundaries and kept the good stuff out. Seldom in recent times has Australia's batting been cause for less concern.

Of course, it did not last. Watson departed first ball after drinks to Stuart Broad, victim of a marginal lbw decision just as Rogers had been in the first innings. What followed was a slow, inexorable decline, as English pressure compounded Australian lapses of the kind that have come to be expected almost as a matter of course ever since Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey disappeared from Test match view.

While the wicket of Michael Clarke provided a definitive conclusion to the chief sportswriters' walking debate and that of Phillip Hughes ensured questions of technology would only grow in urgency, they were dramatic parts of the wider whole. Shown how to conduct themselves in these circumstances and conditions by their openers, Australia's batsmen failed comprehensively to follow suit, once again leaving an enormous task in the hands of the debutant Ashton Agar.

In the case of Ed Cowan, Australia have a batsman apparently out of step with his natural game, having lost the kind of patience and judgment that took him into the side in the first place. Should they go on to record a stirring victory, it will not conceal the fact that the new coach Darren Lehmann's most pressing task is the same that confronted Mickey Arthur. At least he will have the example of the opening stand to point out.

One of the most startling effects Rogers and Watson had while they batted together was to make the target Australia confronted look eminently achievable. England's tail had appeared satisfied with their lead at the start of the day, after Ian Bell and Stuart Broad had ridden considerable luck but also showed plenty of skill to ensure it would go beyond 300. But within a few overs of the chase English brows had began to furrow, as a pair of Australia batsmen showed authority, good sense and sound technique.

Only the occasional play-and-miss interrupted their flow, and apart from one Watson loft to the straight midwicket boundary from Graeme Swann scarcely a single shot was struck in the air. The slow, deteriorating surface meant it was admittedly easier to face the new ball than the old but at no stage did Rogers and Watson allow England's bowlers to settle, punishing the merest miscalculations in line and length and also scoring from plenty of deliveries that were blameless, using quick feet and subtle hands to do so.

	The Huddle - Pitch kept Australia in the game

For once, the end of Watson's innings was not a matter for too much introspection about wasted foundations. Stuart Broad swung a good one into him, the pad was struck, and the appeal was upheld. Watson's referral was instinctive, and a Hawk-Eye projection that had the ball clipping leg stump was another marginal call against Australia. In other words, it was the kind of dismissal that, while influential, could be lived with. The next would be quite the opposite.

Cowan has been ill across this match, suffering badly from a virus that has consigned him to bed at times when he has not been needed at the ground. But he has also been afflicted by a kind of compulsion to play as his position demands rather than the way he generally builds an innings. On day one he wafted at a ball that might normally have been left and was out for a golden duck. This time around he tossed away a serviceable start by driving heedlessly at the first ball Joe Root floated into the footmarks outside off stump, moreover in the last over before tea.

In isolation, Cowan's exit was wasteful. In the context of the match it was critical. Bell later acknowledged that England had bowled somewhat loosely prior to tea. After it they tightened up, and thanks to Cowan they had a new batsman in Clarke to concentrate on. Lehmann has spoken often of allowing his players to bat the way they know best. In Cowan's case he must rediscover exactly what that is, and quickly. Even retention for the Lord's Test is far from guaranteed.

Having played so well in Watson's company, Rogers was gradually becalmed. He found it increasingly difficult to find the occasional boundary that kept his score ticking, and at length the supply of singles also began to dry, his innings slowly becoming almost as parched of runs as the dusty pitch lacked for moisture. Eventually, Rogers was undone by a neat James Anderson plan from around the wicket, cramped for room and flicking in the air to a short midwicket. Unlike Cowan, Rogers has been his usual self in this match. But he will rue the constriction of his innings, leading to error and dismissal.

Batting by this time had become a rather more difficult task, complicated by a softening, moving and spinning ball, a more focused England and the tension of the chase itself. But Clarke would be another batsman to find difficulty adapting to his new role. Typically, Clarke's best innings at No. 5 have begun with a distinct note of counterpunching, going after good balls and bad with a busy, energetic approach that takes momentum away from the bowlers. He was strangely conservative here, trying to preserve his wicket but ultimately allowing England to encircle him. His exit will be talked about mainly for the use of Australia's final review but he had hardly set a confident marker, and No. 4 will remain a kind of millstone until he can be more proactive.

Steve Smith and Phillip Hughes duly fell victim to the momentum and pressure inflicted by England, plus the extravagant turn gained by Swann. There was a familiar sense of fear and claustrophobia about Australia's batsmen in England, the kind of feeling first visited in 2005 and repeated again four years later. Agar, Brad Haddin and the rest of the tail have been left with an almighty task. But even if they achieve it, the batsmen have plenty to ponder before Lord's. A video of Rogers' partnership with Watson should be required, repeat viewing.

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