12th over

Cook wakes from his scoring slumber and slams a square cut to the cover-point fence. Am I jumping the gun in saying that England must have their sights set on a hefty first innings total? As it is panning out, England will be pretty happy with losing the toss and being asked to bat.
44-0

11th Over

Chris Gayle brings himself on for a bit of trundle. In typically casual fashion he slings a couple of balls down the leg-side, but when he drops short outside off stump Strauss pierces the gap in the covers and brings up his 6th boundary of the morning.
40-0

10th Over

Cook loves a dot ball. He plays out another maiden, looking pretty confident in the process. My colleague Neil is already excited about watching Owais Shah, he has posters of the Middlesex man all over his wall and even keeps a picture of Shah in his wallet- I think he’s a good player, but that’s going a bit far Neil!
36-0

9th Over

Strauss pushes nicely down the ground for a pressure-relieving boundary, before slapping a full toss to the mid-wicket boundary. The outfield is quick, the boundaries are short and the pitch appears to be pretty conducive to stroke play…Chris Gayle looks about as worried as a man with dreadlocks and sunglasses can do.
36-0

8th Over

Has the England captain has a slice of luck there? He tries to duck a Darren Powell bouncer but cannot get out of the way in time and the ball balloons to third slip. There is a huge appeal and Powell stands dramatically only yards from Strauss, but, crucially Rudi Kurtzen remains unmoved.
My colleague Dan, who is in the office with me, immediately shouts ‘glove, that was off the glove, and you know what, he is probably right, replays suggest that the ball probably brushed the glove before striking Strauss’s shoulder.
27-0

7th Over

Maiden over from Taylor. Cook shows both patience and concentration in defending and leaving well.

27-0

6th Over

Darren Powell is into the act early, replacing Fiddy at the Pavilion End. Powell is greeted by an Andrew Strauss square-cut that races to the short boundary, square of the wicket on the off-side. A couple of singles from the rest of the over consolidate England’s good start and already the pitch is starting to look quite flat.
27-0