is at it again: 1-0 - Morning everybody. I'm not prone to hyperbole but this Test could be more exciting than having all your birthday, Christmas and New Year's Eve parties rolled into one and held at Hugh Hefner's mansion. Trescothick pushes a quick single into the offside to get the scoreboard moving. 11-0 - Short again from McGrath and prodigious swing after the ball has past the batsman, so much in fact that it beats Gilchrist behind the stumps and goes to the boundary for byes. The captain who wins the toss at The Oval has batted first in 78 out of 88 Tests making Michael Vaughan's decision to make first use of the pitch about as predictable as the time Imelda Marcos went into her local Dolcis and said "I'll have the lot."
81-0 - Tresco clips two more off his legs and the run rate is nearly five an over. Interesting point for Volvo drivers and other poindexters out there is that Trescothick has not been trapped lbw in his last 66 innings!
