you're not wrong about the pitches ... only caught a little of the radio coverage before tea, so I'm watching the highlights now ... shockingly lifeless pitch -- the danger element of the Aussie quicks has already been negated, which is a crying shame for the neutral ... apart from potentially getting one to dart back and stay low (if they sort out their lengths tomorrow), there isn't much there ... that England still managed to get themselves 7 down says a lot ...
in terms of the positives for Engalnd: good for Root; very important hundred, at an excellent rate ... I'm not a fan of the ironically named Ballance, but his contribution was important in preventing a collapse ... Moeen Ali can bat, and Stuart Broad needs to show once more that he can, so England should be aiming for 450 tomorrow morning, which would make for a decent first innings score ...
I'm curious to know how Clarke's captaincy shapes up ... he's going to have to be bold, and sometimes creative, if the pitches are going to blunt his main weapons ...