Captain Cook moves to a patient 50 off 164 balls. He is the batsmen who England will want there throughout the day. The sun is out, the crowd are in good voice and more importantly for the majority for them England are in the lead by 66 on 131-3.

James Pattinson gets the breakthrough as Pietersen edges on to his stumps for 64. Blow for England as Cook and Pietersen are the leading hundred-partnership makers in the team and they fall to 121-3. Ian Bell striding to the crease. The game takes another twist and the Aussie fans are starting to perk up.

Milestones are coming England’s way today. After Pietersen’s fifty, the 100 mark has been passed and Cook and KP have shared in a stand of over 100. Not as back and forth as the other days but you feel that England are starting to move ahead in this tight game.

Veteran Test Match Special commentator and cricket writer Jonathan Agnew has spent the morning prior to the start of the play signing copies of his new book, Cricket: A Modern Anthology behind the Radcliffe Road stand here at Trent Bridge.

We caught up with Aggers to get his opinion on Ashton Agar, England’s chances in the game and Geoffrey Boycott’s latest cake. Please click below to hear the interview in full via our AudioBoo channel below.

Kevin Pietersen is the first Englishmen to reach the half century mark of the series. The lead is now up to 30 with some good strokes being played by both batsmen this morning. The dressing room will be hoping that these two continue to bat long and prolong their partnership which is already on 87.

Autographs aplenty this morning, and the atmosphere is building.

We are surely in for another pulsating day of cricket. To start Mitchell Starc is bowling to Kevin Pietersen and he is kept company at the other end by captain Alastair Cook. The Aussie bowling force are pictured above and they will licking their lips if they manage to break this partnership early on.

With an extraordinary 22 wickets falling inside just two days, it would be a bold prediction to call which way this match will go. Which way will the game turn next? When will spin become a factor? Will Agar at to his impressive innings with a few England scalps? Will an England batsman get to a half century? One thing is for sure, this packed crowd will love every minute of it and provide the atmosphere which is in keeping with an Ashes test. On top of that most of them will want to see less Aussie appeals and more England runs as the day goes on.