Australia murdered us

England are staring down the barrel of defeat in the first Ashes Test against Australia, and former batsman Geoff Boycott has been quick to put the boot in. Writing for the Telegraph, he blames a less-than-ordinary batting performance for the visitors’ woes at the Gabba...

This was always going to be the decisive day of this Test and Australia murdered us.

James Anderson bowled really well without any good fortune. Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad were ordinary. Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin just systematically took us apart. They showed our batsmen that pretty little 30s, 40s and 50s don’t win Test matches. Those two Aussie batsmen put their team in a position to win the game.

Do you think England’s batsmen can bat six sessions? It is possible but highly improbable because so many of them want to play shots all the time. They are going to have to make 400-450 to give themselves any chance of bowling Australia out for 180-200.

Don’t compare this to us saving the match in Cardiff last year. We only had three-and-a-half sessions to bat and rain took away a number of the overs.

When you do not bat well enough in the first innings and only score 260, then the little things like umpiring decisions and half-chances tend to go against you.

The resolve Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook have shown the whole team will have to show for the next two days because even if we can’t save the match we have to salvage some pride and earn some respect for a gutsy performance.