The Australian cricket team today burst out of the blocks with a wonderful display of bowling superiority, mainly in the shape of Peter Siddle but with beautiful displays by team mates Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson, bringing England to a halt at 215 runs all out.

Siddle’s quick bursts of pace that he so fantastically puts behind the ball giving it the momentum to create poor play within England’s batsmen was key to Australia’s success today, bringing England’s batting to a quiet close. Yet with England’s powerful bowling playing a key feature in recent success it can be hoped that Alastair Cook and co. will return the favour and ensure Australian confidence will soon be shaken.

To many, a Test match will be restricted to the walls of Trent Bridge. In reality, its influence spreads far beyond the ground. Here’s a few of the things going on outside this week…

Harry and Sebastian are on their world tour.  They have been in Nottingham for two days, and are staying for the duration of the Test.  Harry told Brian Fairchild “I’m looking forward to seeing Australia bat for the next two and half days.  After this start, England don’t look so good”. Their next stop is Spain, then home to Sydney.

Samdor Daxner may be of Hungarian descent, but is a Nottingham lad through and through.  Today he is responsible for stewarding the Fox Road entrance. “It’s my first time stewarding at Trent Bridge”  he told Brian Fairchild.

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The New Stand is a riot of colour today, a lot of it yellow and green. One particularly vocal group of visitors told Brian Fairchild how much they were enjoying Nottingham.  

‘We are having a great day’ they said. “We have shut the Barmy Army up, and Australia definitely have the upper hand today. We think Nottingham is wicked.  It’s even got it’s own Walkabout bar.”

Their next stop is London, but not before they have made their presence felt in the bars of Nottingham.

Trevor and Alison Torr are on a short tour of England from their home in Victoria State, Australia.  They have come up to Nottingham for the test after five days in London.  They told Andy Lane “We did the tour of Lords, which was amazing.  Trent Bridge is good, but we have the MCG!”  Andy asked if they liked Nottingham ‘We love it  We will definitely come back again”.

The floodlights, architecture and video scoreboard have brought Trent Bridge fame, but the grass itself is often overlooked when test matches are in play. One man that puts the field on top of his “To Do” list is Head Groundsman, Steve Birks as he tells us how the weather will play an important role during this week.

By Adam Roberts