man i wanted to be at the waca today, the rickety stands and all the grass, the tones of green on the square were 2nd to none. the tonal modulation of the cricket pretty much matched it. giles looked frikkin great as 12th man – he’ll do a sterling job. pietersen looked brilliant with his little fighter pilot tache. the perfect maybe dashing maybe slightly dopey ghibli villain.

the match began amid endless chatter about about pitches not being what they used to, a call for the old consistency of variable pitches across the world as opposed to the new consistency of pitches. typical traits. always on the first morning at the waca. never enough slips in the cordon for channel 9. the start of the match was almost identical to the start at the gabba, langer off the mark playing off his toes and falling over and then lots of loose but safe shots through gaps or over the cordon for 4. australia let loose and going wild. then hoggard produced a near perfect ball to dismiss hayden & then ponting in the form off his life v harmison out of the form of his life but with one ball the reversal the series needed and harmy’s joy was unrestrained. it was as though the series started all over again again.

after these two wkts the game tightened up immensely. tight bowling, considered fighting batting. the day went on. wkts came out of the blue, just when australia looked to be cementing solid partnerships. no particularly great deliveries or poor shots but wkts all the same. i think langer let panesar bowl him just to make some sort of point about previous english selection – a sacrifice for the good of the game. he vaguely kind of pretended to try and keep it out. panesar was a joy to watch he had a bit of dance in his delivery and he ejects the ball on a nice trajectory. and the wkt comes he’s got a heap o dance in him then. symonds was a one over wonder and god its great to have him back too. harmison bowled a great spell to the tail.

with panesar in and harmison in form the english team is almost far too likeable. i guess the batsmen are still poms and lack any charm (barring KP of course), but as a bowling side i reckon theyre tops.

but if id been at the waca i would have missed the highlights reel of martos career that they played during the cricket show. i couldve watched it forever. hope theres a dvd.