1st Investec Test: England v Australia at Cardiff

Players like Root (and Kane Williamson, Kohli, Steve Smith, even Mominul Haque for Bangladesh) highlight how far behind the other teams the West Indies are. We have no star young player.

I hope Australia can take a few more wickets tomorrow morning and limit England's score to a total which will make the game competitive and lead to a winner. Would love to see the English team beaten at home.

We do ! what we do NOT have is a support system

Lyon gets the wicket of Broad with his first ball of the morning. Useful partnership between Broad and Moeen. England 395/8.

Moeen out for a very good 77. I liked his positivity. 4 wickets for Starc 419/9.

England all out for 430. Very useful morning session for England. 5 wickets for Starc.

New Zealand manage to navigate the tricky spell before lunch. 26/0. Other than one shout for lbw, Australia's opening pair weren't troubled.

What are the odds this Test plays out similar to the 2009 match here between these two teams almost 6 years ago to the day.

www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/345970.html

England scored 435 in the first innings. Australia replied with 600+ and Jimmy and Monty held on for dear life on day 5 to secure a memorable draw.

Chris Rogers wanna Tie  the world record of consecutive Test 50+ scores.

Record is 7 : he is with 6  : Now at Lunch day 2 he is 15*

Stunning catch by Cook. Jimmy strikes. Warner goes. Australia 52/1.

22.5
Ali to Rogers, 2 runs, to become the fifth batsman, and fourth left-hander :

to make seven successive Test half-centuries.