• England v Australia, 1st Investec Test, Trent Bridge, 1st day

Wide, but not that wide

James Pattinson's first over was not quite like Steve Harmison's, but it was still fairly wide © PA Photos

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The checked swipe that Jonathan Trott aimed at his stumps the moment after his dismissal spoke volumes: he knew he had squandered a golden opportunity to contribute a match defining innings and he was furious with himself. Trott had looked in superb form: there had been nine fours in his 48, several of them caressed to the boundary with beautifully sweet timing. But, drawn into driving at one well outside off stump by the deserving Peter Siddle, Trott inside-edged the ball on to his stumps. The bowler, varying his angle of delivery on the crease intelligently, undoubtedly deserved some credit, but Trott knew he had been the chief architect of his own downfall.

Ball of the day

On a day when most wickets owed more to batsman error than bowling skill, it was Michael Clarke's misfortune to receive a peach of a delivery from James Anderson. Angled in but moving away off the pitch to beat Clarke's perfectly respectable forward defensive stroke and clipping the top of off stump, it was a delivery of which Fred Trueman, the man whose Test wicket tally of 307 Anderson surpassed with this wicket, would have been proud. Now only Sir Ian Botham, with 383, and Bob Willis, with 325, have more Test wickets than Anderson among England bowlers.

First impressions of the day

Steve Harmison and Michael Slater have ensured that the first ball of the Ashes is a big deal. James Pattinson obviously agreed, and despite his hairstyle suggesting the opposite, he is an aggressive man who wants to leave his mark. Clearly he decided that one way to do it was by knocking Cook's head off first ball. Instead his masculine opening ended up sailing comfortably over the Cook's head and ended up being a wide. It wasn't a 'Harmy'. But the next few balls were almost as bad as the Harmy second slip effort.

Review of the day

Steven Finn once batted for what felt like 28 days. It only felt like that if you were watching it, but at times grass stopped growing. With Swann at the crease an innings of turgid determination from Finn was what England would want. Instead Finn wafted at his first ball like he was trying to fit in with England's top order batsmen. Then he reviewed his waft. It looked no better using the hot spot camera. Finn may have believed that he had hit the ground and indeed he had, but he had also nicked the ball. In the end, he spent far more time reviewing the ball than he did actually batting.

Bowling change of the day

Siddle had made a decidedly underwhelming start to his day when Clarke swung him around to the Radcliffe Road End. With figures of 4-0-27-0 to his name, Siddle charged in at Joe Root and produced a ball that was fast, full and bending treacherously late. It was much too good for Root, who tried to jam down it but played inside the swinging line, his off stump tilting back as Siddle charged down the wicket towards his captain. Another four wickets proved Siddle's value to Australia, but they may not have happened at all without the change of ends.

Flight of the day

Underlining the significance of this series in England in both cultural and marketing terms, the Red Arrows - the Royal Air Force's aerobatic team - staged a nine-plane 'flypast' just as Alastair Cook and Joe Root emerged from the pavilion to start the first innings of the series. Meanwhile the band of the Coldstream Guards entertained the full house crowd - a somewhat ironic choice bearing in mind Nottinghamshire's decision to stop Billy Cooper, the Barmy Army's trumpeter, from playing his instrument - while opera singer Lesley Garrett sang the national anthems.

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