Aggers’ Ashes. Jonathan Agnew

      I remember asking Anderson at Trent Bridge last summer, after he had destroyed Pakistan, what would happen in Australia if the ball didn’t swing. Is there a plan B? He told me that his plan B is the ball not swinging and that he would have to depend on accuracy and some reverse swing instead. Reverse swing is usually achieved when the pitch and outfield are dry and abrasive and is a skill that has developed quickly in recent years. Anderson can have his awful days when he is terribly expensive and frustratingly he hadn’t, until the series against Pakistan last summer, made the jump up to someone who was utterly dependable, but on this tour, when the ball won’t always swing, he should still bowl accurately, probing away, changing pace waiting for the ball to reverse swing when he will come back into his own again. Of course someone like him has got it made, swinging the new ball in the orthodox manner then going away and fielding in the outfield for a while, then coming back when the ball starts to reverse; so he’s got two weapons.

      Largely because the art of reverse swing bowling is still something of an enigma and it is thought can be assisted by illegally scratching the ball, there is often a good deal of suspicion about the whole subject. But it is such an asset when there is nothing else to help a bowler on an unresponsive pitch that reverse swing has become a vital asset. Ironically, England’s best tutor was the Australian coach, Troy Cooley, who has now returned to the Australian set-up. England’s coach on this tour is another Aussie David Saker, who will undoubtedly be keen to put one over his still better known predecessor – even if they are both Australians. There is so much freedom of movement for coaches these days that patriotism really doesn’t come into it. Indeed, it is rare to find a national coach who originates from the country he is now employed by. I must say, I can’t see any problem with it at all.

      Today Anderson was bowling the line of last summer and it is too straight here, so he is picked off through the leg side. It will be something for him and Saker to work on. Broad didn’t bowl much and I think the pick of the lot was again Finn. He ran in well and combined hostility with his usual accuracy. He only picked up two wickets to Anderson’s three and Swann’s four, but deserved better than that.

      Callum Ferguson is a name we might encounter later in the Ashes if Australia need to replace their old guard. He certainly plays some shots, but gave his wicket away on 35 when he tried to pull Finn and was caught at mid-on. We will see him again in Hobart.

      With the floodlights doing their best to illuminate the gloom, wickets tumble and South Australia are bundled out for 221, giving England a lead of 67. It is a good effort, but leaves under-scrutiny Cook exposed; he faces the prospect of a no-win innings in tricky conditions. With Strauss in glorious form at the other end, Cook carefully claws his way to 37 not out, and with it the opportunity to go on and enjoy the final morning.

      Meanwhile, word reaches me of trouble at home. My dog Bracken (a Springer spaniel) has raided the chicken run, not, it must be said, for the first time, and Emma is terribly distressed by what was waiting for her when she returned home. Somehow it is entirely my fault – as I knew it would be. Since I am 12,000 miles away, I hadn’t actually contrived to leave the gate open, but I am guilty of employing the man who had put the gate up in the first place. It will be the boiler next – I know it.

      DAY 11: 13 November 2010

      It is another chilly and overcast morning, meaning the floodlights are buzzing away again, and will be for most of the day; in fact the day’s play will be curtailed by bad light. Although it is disappointing that the prospect of an exciting run chase is ruined, England have every reason to celebrate because Cook makes a century. It is a battling effort in stark contrast to Strauss who hits four sixes in his 102 before deliberately giving his wicket away. It is such an important innings as far as Cook’s confidence is concerned and that of the whole team. I suspect Cook would have opened at Brisbane even had he not made a decent score in the warm-up matches, but it would have been an inescapable talking point. The only realistic option would be for Trott to open, Bell to move to number three and Morgan to come into the team at number six; quite an upheaval and certainly something England could do without.

      Cook is not one of the most graceful left-handers, the majority of whom seem to have an elegance all of their own. I’m not sure why, it would seem to be purely a matter of aesthetics. Cook’s bat is often crooked, with the blade turned to the leg side and he plants his front foot on the line of off stump and plays around it, which helps to explain his low scores. But he is a fighter. South Australia’s attack buckles under the weight of the onslaught from Strauss, and 156 runs are added before the captain declares, setting the home team 308 to win in 65 overs. A long break for rain ruins that, and after Trott and Collingwood take outstanding catches off Anderson, the umpires decide the light has deteriorated sufficiently to bring proceedings to an early close.

      Has it been enough of a run out for the bowlers to take the Brisbane option? Broad and Swann certainly look as if they could be trusted in a Test match tomorrow. Finn is coming on but not yet one hundred per cent, while I reckon Anderson is at about eighty per cent. Given the team that has been chosen here, everything is geared to playing the back-up attack in Hobart.

      A final run along the riverbank and I watch as a Singapore Airlines flight comes in over the ground. It is the flight that will bring Emma here in five weeks’ time. It seems an age away. I haven’t been here a fortnight yet, but already a lot seems to have happened in this phoney war. All, that is, except shedding the pounds. How depressing.

      DAY 12: 14 November 2010

      A frustrating travel day. There are no direct flights between Adelaide and Hobart, so we all scatter to the four winds. There are at least three different travel agencies handling the media travel on this tour and I am essentially doing my own thing, which gives one a certain independence. We are very welcome to travel on the same flight as the players, but I have learned that it is generally a mistake to do so because of the chaos created by the massive amount of baggage that accompanies them. This often results in long waits at the luggage carousel at the other end while everything is sorted out behind the scenes and increases the possibility of your bags not getting on to the flight. In the Caribbean the odds on this occurring shorten to a dead cert.

      On this occasion the team’s logistics planners have done a great job and, despite leaving some time after me, and flying via Sydney -which looks uphill on the map – the players arrive in Hobart an hour before I do. Three hours is a long time to kill in Melbourne Airport and, door-to-door, my journey has taken eight-and-a-half hours. It is cold and drizzling in Hobart where, once again, I am with the players in a hotel that has a lovely view of the harbour. Or it would if you could see through the mist.

      DAY 13: 15 November 2010

      It is without doubt the busiest day of the tour so far. It begins with the Australian selectors naming a squad for the First Test of seventeen players. Seventeen! That is bigger than England’s Ashes touring squad. To be fair to the selectors, the marketing men at Cricket Australia, who want a big launch of the Ashes in Sydney at an iconic venue, have determined that the announcement should be made today while there is a full round of Sheffield Shield matches still to go. This could give rise to injuries, so it seems that the selectors have had little choice but to cover all bases. “Sod ‘em!” was the view of one selector, apparently, but it has thrown up some intriguing scenarios. The launch, by the way, is a thoroughly windswept, bleak and damp affair (the rain is incessant) to which no one comes.

      The out-of-form batsmen Michael Hussey and Marcus North now have Callum Ferguson and Usman Khawaja breathing down their necks. The latter two have been named in the squad, and they will play for Australia A against England. What happens should either Hussey or North fail in their Shield match for Western Australia against Victoria (the Retrovision Warriors vs the DEC Bushrangers. Ugh!) and one of the youngsters makes runs against England? Surely in the interests of maintaining the integrity of the selection process Ferguson or Khawaja would have to be picked, while the feeling is that if their hands had not been forced, the selectors would, rightly or wrongly, go for experience, choosing North and Hussey for the Test. Likewise in the spin department. Xavier Doherty is a mostly unknown left-arm spinner from Tasmania, but he is in the party and will have a ‘bowl off with Nathan Hauritz when he plays against New South Wales on Wednesday. Again, if Doherty takes