Onions inspires dominant England

Graham Onions set the tone for England on the 2nd morning at Edgbaston, by taking two wickets with the very first two balls of the day. Firstly, Shane Watson was trapped in front by a nip-back'er, before moments later, Michael Hussey left a straight one that clattered into his off-pole.

Onions went on to pick up two more wickets, as England bowled the tourists out for a below-par 263. The total would have been far less had Nathan Hauritz (20*), Peter Siddle (13) and Ben Hilfenhaus (20) not added 60 for the final two wickets.

Onions, together with Jimmy Anderson, fully utilised a swinging ball and the Australian batsmen were helpless. Michael Clarke can argue that he was a little unlucky with his LBW decision - Hawkeye showing the ball was missing leg-stump - but there was no uncertainty in the dismissals of Ricky Ponting (38), Marcus North (12), and the debutant Graham Manou (8). Ponting was the victim of some hostile bowling from the impressive Onions, North undone by an Anderson outswinger that was claimed admirably by Matt Prior behind the stumps, and Manou castled by an unplayable delivery from the same man. Anderson went on to claim 5-82 in a pacey spell.

England went into bat in the afternoon with a minimum of 50 overs still left to bowled, a total that would be cut down to 36 due to rain and bad light. Alastair Cook (0) went early to the bowling of Peter Siddle, a delivery that he would have been better off leaving. The highs and lows of cricket evident in this dismissal - the disappointment of Cook overshadowed by the joy of Manou, who claimed his first International dismissal with the catch behind. Manou was drafted into the lineup just minutes before the start of play yesterday as a replacement for Brad Haddin who broke his finger in last minute preparations. The change was so late that there wasn't even time to award the South Australia keeper his Baggy Green cap. That ceremony was delayed for the second morning. A special moment none-the-less for Manou, who wouldn't have expected to be making his debut at all this summer, let alone in such dramatic circumstances. Shades of Glenn McGrath from 2005, when he trod on ball in the outfield just before play. Perhaps a good omen for England.

After the departure of Cook in the second over, Ravi Bopara and Andrew Strauss were forced to be extra watchful, and Bopara's elegant strokeplay coupled with Strauss's calm aura, settled nerves around the ground. Bopara (23) has often been criticised for his laziness at the crease at times, and that was certainly his downfall today. Facing his first ball after Tea, the Essex man dragged a wide one onto his stumps with a nothing shot, gifting Hilfenhaus his first wicket. Bopara's expression said it all - one of frustration and displeasure. Once again Bopara looked good, but has failed to make a significant contribution. For a player of such talent and ability, one is frustrated by Bopara's constant momentary lapses in concentration.

England ended the day on 116-2, with Strauss (64) and Bell (26) unbeaten at the crease and looking solid. For Australia, all eyes were on Mitchell Johnson, and despite going at less than 4 an over, which is somewhat of a rarity for Johnson in this series, he seldom looked threatening. His best moment of the day came with a shapely inswinger to Ian Bell, that thudded into the Warwickshire man's pads, bringing a loud appeal from the slip-cordon and bowler, but to no avail. On second look, Johnson looked to be very unlucky, but as the saying goes, 'when you're in form, things go for you. When you're striving for form, everything goes against you'. That incident, coupled with his horrible misjudgement of an Anderson hooper in Australia's innings, kind of sums up Johnson's couple of weeks. He's just not at the races at the moment, a shame for Australia who were really banking on his bowling this summer. With Brett Lee touted to be fit for the Headingly Test, Johnson's time seems to be very nearly up.

The forecast for the next 3 days isn't great, and we'll be hard pushed to see a result, but where there's a will, there's a way!