Headingley Test, Day 1, Tea
Thursday, August 16, 2001 The England bowlers underperformed in the first session. They didn't use what there was in the pitch – they bowled a little bit too short, and on both sides of the wicket, which makes it hard for the captain to set a field. When Andrew Caddick got it right, he had the batsmen hopping around – he got a wicket straight away, nearly had another one in the same over, and then had Ricky Ponting hitting one he was trying to take the bat away from. Australia will be happy with 86 for 2 at tea. The openers struggled again, but Australia play a pack game. It's like a gang mentality: someone fails, somebody else comes up with an important innings. This time it was Ponting, who has been out of form, who got stuck in.

The pitch looks ugly, but at least it's not the horror track that some people were predicting. Apparently all Yorkshire's pitches here this year have looked like this but played all right, so that's encouraging. It's a decent enough first-day pitch, although you'd think the groundsmen could have made it look a bit better!

There was enough in the pitch for the captain winning the toss to have thought seriously about bowling first. Steve Waugh did just that in the first two Tests, but Adam Gilchrist has gone for a different approach this time. The surface looks a little dry, so this time he was probably thinking more in terms of Shane Warne doing well in the final innings – or maybe before! – than the faster bowlers.

Ian Healy made a record 395 dismissals in 119 Tests for Australia, and was on the winning side in the last six Ashes series. His comments will appear on Wisden.com at the end of every session for the rest of the series. He was talking to Steven Lynch

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd